Valley Voices

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843911625
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Hanford, CA, USA
Phone
5593810782
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Voter Education, Registration

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,681,818
Expenses
$1,577,037
Assets
$1,058,155
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RUTH LOPEZ (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • RUTH LOPEZ (President): $113,172 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Mission Statement: Rooted in the communities of Californias Central Valley, our mission is to drive lasting change across rural regions by uplifting the voices and leadership of underserved, working-class communities of color. Vision Statement: Cultivate community power to build healthy, equitable and resilient communities that thrive.

What it reported doing in 2025

Valley Voices has three portfolios of work that are funded by grants, contracts and donations: Civic Engagement, Public Health and Workers Rights. Our Civic Engagement work has multiple aspects. Voter registration includes supplying voter registration forms and assisting individuals with filling the forms out, along with how to submit the forms to the Registrar of Voters office. Voter education includes general nonpartisan conversations and workshops prior to local elections that explain how to find information within the large Voter Guide as well as how to fully complete and submit a California Ballot. Our social media channels regularly share original posts to invite the community to attend local board meetings along with our team members our team encourages member of the public to speak up, in both Spanish and English, about their interests, concerns and hopes to enjoy better representation by elected officials. We host candidate forums and ballot education sessions during each election cycle. Our Public Health work engages our team out in the community to share free resources such as PPE (hand sanitizer, face masks and hand wipes), 3-in-1 COVID-19/Flu A/Flu B testing supplies and educational materials to help stop the spread of respiratory diseases in partnership with the Kings County Department of Public Health. In 2025 and 2026 we partnered with the California Department of Public Healths Project Wingspan to bring flu vaccine popup clinics to dairy workers to help fight the Avian Flu. Our contract with FCHIP (Fresno Community Health Improvement Partnership) funds several CHWs (Community Health Workers) for our Fresno County-based outreach to address health disparities, housing, food security and other social determinants of health. Our Workers Rights efforts focus on education and referral to state agencies and/or legal assistance. We provide support and guidance to low-income workers who may have difficulty accessing resources due to language or technology barriers. Referrals to state agencies include, but are not limited to, CalOSHA, Labor Commissioner, Agricultural Relations Labor Board (ALRB) and Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). We have also partnered with educational institutions such as University of California, Merced to stay up to date on the most pressing issues related to workers rights. In the last two years, our outreach work has also included significant conversations and education relating to immigration rights. We are funded by the United Farm Workers to host legal service providers in our office each month. We also have funding from Valley SEED to support outreach to our community relating to the High-Speed Rail station planned for Hanford and possible Heavy Maintenance Facility with a location TBD.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% 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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.5%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 6.2%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 37.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 35% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 36.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.5% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.