Story Leaf

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
844582283
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Walnut Creek, CA, USA
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cultural, Ethnic Awareness

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$237,196
Expenses
$420,148
Assets
$171,333
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GILBERT BANDUCCI (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GILBERT BANDUCCI (PRESIDENT): $60,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Story leaf is a California public benefit nonprofit organization created for public and charitable purposes. Specifically, story leaf's mission is to educate and bring awareness to social, medical and environmental issues worldwide through public service announcements (psa). Through the merging of education, research, social media, storytelling and entertainment, story leaf aims to support humanitarian, environmental, and public causes on a global and local scale by spreading education and awareness about the issue. Ultimately, the foundation hopes to be the bridge between global awareness and local action and support. Story leaf will pursue this mission by focusing on the following two categories: (1) selection of a worthy cause for each project, and (2) development and distribution of content.selection of a cause (40 percent of total time and 10 percent of the expenses allocated to this activity)story leaf will accept applications on a rolling basis from non-governmental organization

What it reported doing in 2025

Development and distribution of content (60 percent of total time and 90 percent of the total expenses allocated to this activity)production for these public service announcements will be done with the highest quality and artistry available in California. Story leaf will request separate bids for each potential project from independent contractors and third party vendors interested in developing the psa. The board of directors will select contractors and vendors based on the scope, size, budget and applicable cause. Story leaf anticipates developing educational content to be distributed through social media on a global scale. Together with a skilled team of filmmakers, storytellers and animators, story leaf can create outstanding educational announcements while capturing the attention of the audience.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -77.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.41; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 78.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $420K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.