Valley Clean Air Now

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
371450235
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9162738886
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Pollution Abatement and Control Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,697,759
Expenses
$11,654,926
Assets
$2,262,210
Liabilities
$1,918,915

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Todd Ferrara (Vice President)
  • Sandy Berg (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Thomas Knox (Executive Dir.): $216,292 total reported compensation
  • Rodrigo Sandoval (COO): $133,600 total reported compensation
  • Jose Marin (Comm Outreach Mgr): $130,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Valley CAN is committed to improving air quality in California's San Joaquin Valley. We promote voluntary actions to reduce air polution and sponsor pilot programs and educational efforts dedicated to providing solutions to high emissions sources.

What it reported doing in 2024

Valley CAN advances equitable clean transportation and electrification by designing and implementing programs that expand access, reduce emissions, and build workforce capacity in underserved communities. Its work includes leading a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle pilot using Toyota Mirai vehicles, providing zero-emission cars and prepaid hydrogen fuel to low-income residents to replace high-polluting vehicles, while demonstrating real-world emissions and cost benefits. Valley CAN also serves as a trusted community partner to utilities, supporting PG&Es Low Carbon Fuel Standard programs and Southern California Edisons Clean Energy Access and workforce initiatives through equity-focused outreach, incentive awareness, and stakeholder engagement. In partnership with the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, Valley CAN has further delivered EV charging readiness and workforce development programs, training electricians, coordinating contractors, and creating scalable tools that remove infrastructure barriers, strengthen the clean energy workforce, and support long-term transportation electrification goals.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 72% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 95
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.5%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 94.9%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $565.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.4%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.5% of revenue deployed · 94.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $11.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 14 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $2.4M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.