The Foundation for Leadership California

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
680149768
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2012
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9165883812
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$610,497
Expenses
$484,534
Assets
$700,699
Liabilities
$54,024

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRITT KOPPING (PRESIDENT)
  • SUSAN SILVANI (PRESIDENT ELECT)
  • APRIL BARNES (VICE PRESIDENT - NOMINATING)
  • LAURA STORTO (VICE PRESIDENT - PROGRAMMING)
  • KARIE KRANTZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

People named in this filing

  • BRITT KOPPING (PRESIDENT)
  • SUSAN SILVANI (PRESIDENT ELECT)
  • APRIL BARNES (VICE PRESIDENT - NOMINATING)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Leadership California's mission is to catalyze distinguished women leaders across California to scale their impact.

What it reported doing in 2025

Leadership California's mission is to catalyze distinguished women. Women from success to significance. Our core program is the California issues and trends (cit). More than 2,000 women leaders from around the state have participated in our programs to increase their knowledge of California issues and trends, broaden their connections, boost their influence, and be inspired to act and make a difference.through our programs, leadership California provides the critical foundation and experiences to help women positively impact their workplaces and communities. We seek to expand the understanding, connections, and opportunities for women leaders, both while they are in our programs and beyond, recognizing that the commitment to leadership and service continues long after the completion of the program. Leadership California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) foundation with a governing board of directors and dedicated staff. The power of us 2025 took place on april 28, 2025 to honor and celebrate three tribal women leaders in California: catalina chacon (councilwoman, pechanga band of indians; vice chairwoman, tribal alliance of sovereign indian nations), lorelle ross (past vice chairwoman, graton rancheria), and lynn valbuena (chairwoman, san manuel band of mission indians; chairwoman, tribal alliance of sovereign indian nations).

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.4%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $212.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

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: 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 20.6%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.45; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.4% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $366K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $249K reported
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.