Visit Vacaville

What it reported doing in 2024

The mission of the Organization is to develop Vacaville as a desired destination for visitors through aggressive marketing of its diverse assets and to advocate for the enhancement of Vacaville as a more attractive visitor destination. The Organization promotes the City as the preferred destination for visitors, meetings, tour groups, sporting and events.Visit Vacavilles destination marketing program aims to enhance awareness for Vacaville as an attraction for both the local community and visitors, and boost economic activity. The program seeks to increase tourism district tax, transient occupancy tax, and sales tax revenue by promoting Vacaville as an overnight destination with a variety of offerings for all. Destination marketing supports Vacavilles vitality and sustained growth for businesses.Visit Vacaville maintains a physical visitor center in Nut Tree Plaza, open Monday through Friday to support locals, visitors, and businesses with general travel inquiries, Vacaville merchandise and more.Visit Vacavilles signature event programming seeks to promote and enhance the experiences one can have in Vacaville while preserving its history and unique character. Visit Vacaville plans and produces four main annual signature events: Taste of Vacaville (restaurant week), En Plein Air Weekend, Tourism Breakfast, and Vacavilles Farm-to-Table Dinner. Additionally, Visit Vacaville coordinates content and activations for I love Vacaville week in February and has a booth at the Citys Merriment on Main event.Visit Vacaville attends meetings with the Visit California, CalTravel, One West Tourism Alliance, Destinations International, U.S. Travel, Travelability, Solano County Farm Bureau and various other groups at the state, and local level to ensure that strategic planning for Vacaville is competitive and commensurate with other destination marketing and promotions.The Accessible Travel initiative advances Vacavilles commitment to inclusive tourism by partnering with organizations such as Wheel the World, the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program, and TravelAbility to assess visitor experiences, improve wayfinding and facilities, and promote the city as a welcoming destination for travelers of all abilities. This past year Visit Vacaville completed Wheel The World mapping of hotels and attractions in Vacaville for wheelchair users and launched a destination specific page on their travel website. Visit Vacaville began running accessible tourism ads in conjunction with other destination awareness digital ad campaigns to promote Vacaville to families traveling with family members who have a disability. And Visit Vacaville created a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program Training Deck for local businesses to learn about and partake in the global program.Visit Vacavilles e-commerce strategy strengthens the citys digital presence and visitor engagement across four core channels:1) The official Visit Vacaville website serves as the central hub for trip planning, event discovery, and visitor resources, featuring itineraries, local business listings, and up-to-date community information.2) Active social media channels build brand awareness, share destination storytelling, highlight local events, and engage both residents and potential visitors through visual content and real-time interaction.3) Email campaigns and monthly newsletters nurture repeat visitation, promote upcoming events and seasonal activities, and keep partners and travelers informed with timely destination news.4) Paid advertising campaigns increase visibility, drive qualified website traffic, and promote Vacavilles attractions, events, and visitor experiences. Visit Vacavilles digital search strategy uses both search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), leveraging textual, graphical, and meta ads to reach travelers. Ads are created in-house. Visit Vacavilles print marketing efforts showcase the citys attractions, events, and visitor amenities through high-qual

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 91.8%; rating input score 92
• Fundraising efficiency: $15.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st 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: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -10.4%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.04; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.8; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 16%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings