The Well in the Desert Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330694580
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Palm Springs, CA, USA
Phone
7602857299
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Emergency Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$556,396
Expenses
$293,005
Assets
$333,984
Liabilities
$33,470

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DENNIS DUCA (Vice President)
  • MATHEW NAYLOR (President)

People named in this filing

  • DENNIS DUCA (Vice President)
  • MATHEW NAYLOR (President)
  • MICHAEL WEINER (Director)

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

Programs for poverty prevention, services for poverty prevention, and an organized effort to advocate for the poor

What it reported doing in 2025

, meals a year to those in poverty, the homeless, and those with food needs. Daily nutritional meals to over 200 persons a day. Morning coffee, rolls and fruit. Saturday food distribution of healthy foods to working families in need, senior veterans, the disabled, and families with children in need. Emergency food boxes. Transportation services to medical and social services appointments.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

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: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.5%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $31.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 47.3%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.14; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -17.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.5% of revenue deployed · 79% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 7 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $231K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2009 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.