Voices for Children

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953786047
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
8585692019
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,570,528
Expenses
$9,223,328
Assets
$15,978,696
Liabilities
$3,337,280

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JESSICA MUNOZ (PRESIDENT/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JESSICA MUNOZ (PRESIDENT/CEO): $257,773 total reported compensation
  • REBECCA RADER (CHIEF PHILANTHROPY OFFICER): $180,833 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN MOORE (CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER): $164,507 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Voices for children transforms the lives of abused children by providing them with court appointed special advocates (casas).

What it reported doing in 2024

Voices for children (vfc) recruits, trains, and manages over 900 volunteers annually to serve as court appointed special advocates (casas) and is the only nonprofit organization designated by the state of California and the superior courts of san diego and riverside counties to provide these casa services. Vfc was founded in 1980 in san diego county, and since 2015, has also operated the casa program for riverside county. Casa volunteers play an important role in the foster care system, building trusting relationships with children and interfacing with the professionals in order to identify and protect the best interests of children in foster care who have experienced abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Currently all of the nearly 2,500 children in san diego county foster care receive assessment services and 1,734 children in urgent need of advocacy were served by a casa or case liaison. In addition, 521 children in riverside county are being served by casas. Casas work closely with vfc staff to prepare reports for each juvenile court hearing, and develop appropriate advocacy plans for the children. This information helps superior court judges make the most informed decisions to help each child be safe, healthy, and successful. In addition, the case files of all children in san diego county foster care are reviewed annually, and thousands of reports are written and filed that evaluate, update, and prioritize children's cases, with the ultimate goal of matching them with trained casa volunteers. In february 2023, vfc became the designated casa program for the pechanga tribal court.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 75.3%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.6%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.73; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.7% of revenue deployed · 75.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $258K · 37 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $137K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.