Union of the Vietnamese Student Assoc Southern California

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330133420
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Westminster, CA, USA
Phone
7148901418
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$578,750
Expenses
$382,593
Assets
$277,655
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jolynna Dang (External Vice President)
  • Harold Nguyen (Internal Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Jolynna Dang (External Vice President)
  • Harold Nguyen (Internal Vice President)
  • Victor Phan (Secretary)

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

The Union of the Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California (UVSA) is a volunteer-based community organization which brings together youths to organize social, cultural, and community events in order to develop the next generation of Vietnamese American leaders. UVSAs annual programs include the Tet Festival, Project LEAD, and our Inter-Collegiate Council events.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Tet Festival celebrates the Lunar New Year and is UVSA's primary fundraiser. An estimated 50,000 guests attend the festival to show their support to the 300+ unpaid staff, 500+ youth volunteers, and countless community organizations who contribute their time and effort to make the festival successful. At the event, guests can experience the Vietnamese cultural village, an area where a rural or historic village in Vietnam is replaced including structures, exhibits, artwork, and volunteers dressed in cultural attire. Other programs at the event include cultural competitions such as the Miss Vietnam of Southern California pageant, children's traditional pageant, and talent contest, eating competitions featuring cultural foods, and cultural performances. The event further UVSA's mission to promote culture and also serves as a vehicle to develop 250 young leaders in event coordination. When the event performs well financially, UVSA allocates up to half of the proceeds to the Tet Community Assistance Fund. Through this grant opportunity, other non-profit organizations in Southern California can apply to receive funding to their programs. Since 2002, UVSA has awarded over $1,500,000 in grants to non-profit organizations in Southern California.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.7%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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; 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: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.9%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.8% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -24.3% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.7% of revenue deployed · 84.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $321K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 21 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.