The Dipsea Race Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
680405142
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Mill Valley, CA, USA
Phone
4159901630
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Amateur Sports Competitions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$82,675
Expenses
$106,515
Assets
$879,632
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mervyn Regan (President)
  • Pauli Larsen (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Leon Hunting (Executive Dir.): $24,000 total reported compensation
  • Mervyn Regan (President): $1,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Preserve historic Dipsea tradition and encourage persons of all ages to appreciate and protect the Dipsea trail.

What it reported doing in 2025

1. The Dipsea Kidz Program - a free running club held for young children after school at 2 seperate school sites in Marin County which have a large percentage of students that qualify for free lunch. The programs run in the fall and include participation in county-wide cross country meets; including a 5k fun run to cap off the season. In the Spring, the program contnues and includes participation in county wide track meets and some of the runners continue to train for the Dipsea Race, a 7.5 mile trail run starting in Mill Valley over Mount Tamalpais ending in Stinson Beach. There are 50-60 student participants each season. Running shoes and running shirts are provided for those who cannot afford them, as well as snacks. This program also provides leadership roles as evidenced by runners who have gone on to run in high school have come back to mentor the younger runners.2. The Dipsea Race Foundation awarded 3 highly competitive college scholarships to deserving High school students in the amount of $5,000 each.3. The Dipsea Race Foundation performed maintenance on the Dipsea Trail including repairs and replacement railings on the Dipsea stairs at multiple locations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 80% for direct work, and 20% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 10
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.1%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 70.6%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -28.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.26; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.1% of revenue deployed · 70.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $75K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $24K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.