St Madeleine Sophies Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
951957332
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
El Cajon, CA, USA
Phone
6194425129
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,047,697
Expenses
$10,060,873
Assets
$17,593,481
Liabilities
$4,012,937

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Debra Emerson (CEO)
  • Stuart Karasik PhD (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Debra Emerson (CEO): $226,194 total reported compensation
  • Mark Fisher (Dir of Day Prog): $136,500 total reported compensation
  • Laura Shanahan (Dir of Operations): $115,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

St. Madeleine's serves more than 400 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Our mission is to educate and empower individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to realize their full potential. Students participate in one of the following programs depending on their level of ability.

What it reported doing in 2025

Behavior Modification program is specially designed for clients with higher level behavioral challenges. The goal is to increase the individuals level of independence, and decrease their level of negative behaviors, while they are involved in work and other meaningful activities. The program requires a 1 to 3 ratio. Once a client is able to successfully meet the goals identified in his or her Behavior/Individual Service Plan, they are encouraged to transition to one of our less restrictive programs. The Supported Employment Program provides quality employment services including job coaching for individual and group placements and career counseling. It offers a variety of vocational services to individuals with disabilities who are committed to pursuing work on a regular and on-going basis. The focus of the program is to assist individuals in attaining and maintaining competitive employment.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 68% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.2%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.5%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.75; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.2% of revenue deployed · 75.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $7.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $226K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $3.3M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.