Spartan Shops Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
941392424
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Jose, CA, USA
Phone
4089241901
Rating
59
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Student Services, Organizations of Students

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,355,963
Expenses
$4,441,085
Assets
$21,795,752
Liabilities
$21,903,103

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHARLIE FAAS (PRESIDENT/INTERIM BOARD CHAIR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHARLIE FAAS (PRESIDENT/INTERIM BOARD CHAIR): $397,459 total reported compensation
  • MARI FUENTES-MARTIN (DIRECTOR): $330,721 total reported compensation
  • BILL CAMPSEY (SECRETARY AND TREASURER): $65,051 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The organization's mission is to provide and manage the campus bookstore, dining services and certain real estate properties. Spartan shops has an agreement with barnes & noble college booksellers ("barnes & noble") for the daily operation of the spartan bookstore and with chartwells higher education ("chartwells") to provide all dining services to the san jose state university ("sjsu") campus. Spartan shops holds and administers assets for the organization's other post-employment benefits ("opeb") plan in a fiduciary fund.

What it reported doing in 2024

Spartan shops entered into an agreement with chartwells higher education ("chartwells"), a division of compass group USA, inc., to manage all food preparation and service programs on behalf of sjsu. Therefore, chartwells has served as sjsu's exclusive food service provider since 2018. As part of this agreement, chartwells provides residential dining services in our dining commons, a food court and retail within the diaz compean student union, two markets, concessions in the provident credit union event center and south campus athletics facilities, as well as catering on the main campus, south campus, and the hammer theatre.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 94% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most filed governance safeguards are in place. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 60
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.4%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 40%; rating input score 40; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.1%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.91; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -16.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.4% of revenue deployed · 77% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $397K · 5 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 40/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.