Sycamore Creek Community Charter School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813392907
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Cypress, CA, US
Phone
(714) 594-3660
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,719,244
Expenses
$3,076,612
Assets
$36,671,867
Liabilities
$36,085,690

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ALISHA WALKER (PRESIDENT)
  • SARAH BACH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SARAH BACH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $131,394 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our goal is to support the community of students, families and faculty to increase self-knowledge, sensitivity, empathy, and build alliances to create a 'Culture of Care.'

What it reported doing in 2024

In july 2024, the organization formed the scccs facilities llc. The llc serves as a property holding company for charter school facilities and its related debt. In november 2024, the llc entered into a loan agreement with the California school finance authority (csfa) for the issuance of $33,040,000 charter school revenue bonds, series a and $640,000 charter school revenue bonds, series b. The funds were used to acquire, construct, improve, furnish, and equip the school facilities at 4321 west cerritos avenue in cypress, California.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 88% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.5%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.92; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.98; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 29.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 75.9% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 99.5% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $131K · 5 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $356K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.