StarVista

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943094966
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
Burlingame, CA, USA
Phone
6505919623
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$17,439,682
Expenses
$18,107,649
Assets
$6,549,859
Liabilities
$5,243,170

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sara Larios Mitchell (Chief Executive Officer)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sara Larios Mitchell (Chief Executive Officer): $292,490 total reported compensation
  • Lea Berhane (Chief Operations Officer): $220,155 total reported compensation
  • Shareen E Leland (Clinical Officer): $199,816 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

StarVista's mission is to deliver high impact services through counseling, skill development and crisis prevention to children, youth, adults and families. At StarVista, we believe that everyone deserves the chance to be healthy and strong. We provide a variety of programs throughout San Mateo County to help children, youth, adults and families who are struggling with substance abuse, domestic violence, mental health, relationship, and communication issues.

What it reported doing in 2023

Youth Empowerment Services: Provides services including respite from hunger and homelessness with transitional housing, emergency overnight, shared housing with host families, crisis care, mental health counseling, independent living skills training, family counseling and family reunification, if appropriate, and case management services for runaway, homeless, former foster and probation youth aged 10-24. Other programs offer group, individual, mental health and substance abuse counseling services for incarcerated adolescent girls; voluntary or probation-referred outpatient drug and alcohol recovery programs for adolescents; and youth development programming at Sequoia High School. Offers individual, group, and case management services for youth currently incarcerated. Provides after-care case management services for youths that have been released on probation. Providing services to individuals improve their overall wellness by helping them overcome stress, anxiety, and substance use.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 87% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.4%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 89.9%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.8; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.4% of revenue deployed · 89.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $16.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $292K · 24 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.