The Discovery Land Company Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204420241
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Beverly Hills, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3108590700
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,732,141
- Expenses
- $2,751,253
- Assets
- $15,366,025
- Liabilities
- $469,173
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHRISTY NICHOLS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETARY)
- MICHAEL MELDMAN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTY NICHOLS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/SECRETARY): $288,970 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To strengthen non-profit and charitable programs that serve children and families, including shelters and foster care facilities, in the communities that surround discovery land company developments.
What it reported doing in 2024
The discovery land company foundation has three main activities: (1) fund and help create innovative high-quality foster care programs for children utilizing residential facilities. (2) contribute to charitable, non-profit organizations who focus on the urgent housing, education, and medical needs of families in local communities around discovery land company's projects. (3) connect the foundation's grant recipients with additional resources to further their growth and success.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 92% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 81
- Sustainability: 52
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.2%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 92.7%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $99.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Limited
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 98.6%; rating input score 99; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th 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: -0.7%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.59; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.3%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.2% of revenue deployed · 92.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $289K · 3 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.