Uplift Youth Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203934093
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9495213258
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alcohol, Drug Abuse, Prevention Only
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $440,987
- Expenses
- $314,278
- Assets
- $179,817
- Liabilities
- $199
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SHARON ELLIS (BOARD PRESIDENT - (THRU 5/2024))
- MAYU IWATANI (BOARD VICE PRESIDENT - (THRU 5/2024))
- JOSHUA ROTHMAN - PREVIOUS BOARD DIR (BOARD PRESIDENT (START 6/2024))
- SANJEEV DALAL - PREVIOUS BOARD DIRE (BOARD VICE PRESIDENT (START 6/2024))
- SUSAN KENNY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - (THRU 5/2024))
- ASHLEY ZARNEGAR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - (START 6/2024))
Highest reported compensation
- SUSAN KENNY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - (THRU 5/2024)): $63,497 total reported compensation
- CAMILLA BRUNO (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $58,785 total reported compensation
- ASHLEY ZARNEGAR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - (START 6/2024)): $51,734 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Uplift youth foundation provides youth with the tools of movement, mindfulness, and peer connection to support their wellbeing, create community, and nurture growth.
What it reported doing in 2024
Health awareness education and youth development programs: uplift's social and emotional learning (sel) programs empower young people to navigate life's challenges while fostering a deep understanding of self and relationships with others. Programs incorporate evidence-based mental and physical health tools such as mindful movement, meditation, journaling, and group discussion. Through our curriculum, we support youth self-efficacy and encourage peer connections to reduce rates of anxiety, fear, sadness, and loneliness. Our programs are led by uplift-certified mentors and teens and are conducted in schools, online, and within local community settings. Descriptions of our primary programs include: series: the uplift series is an empowering program designed to provide youth with essential mental health tools, fostering connections and a sense of belonging outside of school. Certified uplift mentors guide participants through an 8-week journey (once a week) where teens will acquire life-changing skills, including self-awareness, emotional resilience, and social competence. Within each session, students experience foundational practices such as yoga, mindfulness, meditation, journaling, and peer-led conversations. The series is offered a few times a year at accessible local studios in-person and online virtually.school program: the uplift school program puts social-emotional learning into action. Students learn the foundations of mindfulness while gaining lifelong mental health tools: empathy, self-awareness, emotion regulation, stress management, positive relationships, and daily practices for wellness. The six to eight-week program, led by a certified uplift mentor, delivers a research-based curriculum and establishes a peer-supportive community tailored to fit both in-school and after-school environments. Yoga assemblies + community events: certified uplift teen teachers & mentors skillfully guide students to connect with themselves and each other. Through a single, dynamic session of mindful movement, meditation, journaling, and engaging conversation, students learn practices to start their well-being journey and build their whole wellness toolbox. This offering is a great way to spark interest in students to participate in potential in-school or after-school series.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% 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 - 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: 57
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 53
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 49%; rating input score 49
- Program expense ratio: 68.8%; rating input score 69
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 28.7%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.57; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 64.4%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -11.8% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 26.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 49% of revenue deployed · 68.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $216K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $63K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.