Watsonville Film Festival

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813138376
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Watsonville, CA, USA
Phone
8313258724
Rating
45
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Film, Video

Reported finances

Revenue
$327,193
Expenses
$243,479
Assets
$363,218
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • REBECCA HERNANDEZ (BOD PRESIDENT)
  • RON SANDIDGE (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • CONSUELO ALBA-SPEYER (EXECUTIVE DIR)
  • REBECCA HERNANDEZ (BOD PRESIDENT)
  • RON SANDIDGE (VICE PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

See schedule o

What it reported doing in 2024

During the fiscal year 2024-2025, we presented the 13th Annual Watsonville Film Festival from March 6-25 at the CineLux Green Valley Cinema in Watsonville. Our centerpiece film commemorated the 40th Anniversary of the Watsonville Cannery Strike.For the first time we hosted screenings at Maya Cinemas in Salinas and 418 Project Theater in Santa Cruz. Attendance: 2,800. We presented 50 films and hosted 38 filmmakers, most of them based in the Monterey Bay Region. We featured 22 live events, 12 screenings across four cities, 9 of them sold out. 2025 WFF Film Guide. As part of our Cine Se Puede initiative, we hosted our First Filmmakers Summit. 56 filmmakers attended, connected and shared their dreams, interests and challenges working in our region. The WFFs 7th Annual Dia de Muertos Festival at the Plaza attracted 2,500 families.At this beautiful celebration we premiered Eternidad, a WFF Cine Se Puede supported film by director Ignacio Muoz. We also presented The Book of Life, selected by community vote. As part of the program, we featured 175 live performers, 21 community altars, collaborated with 50 community partners, businesses and sponsors, and supported 40 artists and vendors at Mercado de Muertos. The WFF Team activated an office downtown called Dia de Muertos HQ at Plaza Vigil to connect better with the community. We worked diligently on logistics, safety plan, volunteer coordination, event production and DOD decorations. This also allowed us to work weekly with wonderful volunteers from WHS Hope Club Hosted individual screenings under our year round programming, WFF Presents : - Collaboration with Pajaro Valley Pride to present Hummingbirds and Q&A with the filmmakers at Green Valley CineLux. - Collaboration with the Filipino Cultural Festival to screen Dear Watsonville at Pajaro Valley Arts. - Premiered Leading Change, a selection of Safe Ag, Safe Schools (SASS) Films at CineLux. For several months our team worked on an impact campaign with further screenings at CSUMB, Cabrillo College, PV High and PVPSA. - Visited four local schools with Watsonville-based actor Sedrick Cabrera

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 46
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 45.9%; rating input score 46
  • Program expense ratio: 61.7%; rating input score 62
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 80%; rating input score 80; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 25.6%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.49; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.1% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 45.9% of revenue deployed · 61.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $150K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 25 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 46/100.
  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.