Yerba Buena Community Benefit District

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800304869
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4159194049
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,064,071
Expenses
$4,495,707
Assets
$8,203,470
Liabilities
$2,799,361

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

Leadership & pay

39 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SCOTT ROWITZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SCOTT ROWITZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $235,106 total reported compensation
  • CONSTANCE CAVALLAS (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $165,861 total reported compensation
  • JILL LINWOOD (DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS): $123,403 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Advance the quality of life for residents and visitors in the yerba buena neighborhood and san francisco on an ongoing basis by fostering a safer and more secure community, enhancing environmental quality and beauty, and reinforcing the viability of our economic base.

What it reported doing in 2024

Safety and security - the community guides ("guides") serve as goodwill ambassadors in the neighborhood. Guides provide information, directions, and connect those who need help to the right social services. Guides report maintenance issues such as areas in need of cleaning. Guides do not provide emergency response, but will call emergency dispatch to report issues. Up to six guides work 6:00 am to 10:00 pm, seven days a week. The ybcbd also engages one social services specialist to work with the street population and connect them to services.in addition to existing police services, the san francisco police department ("sfpd") provides officers to the ybcbd under city administrative code section 10b. These officers are funded by the ybcbd and work ten hours per day, seven days per week. The 10b officer primarily addresses quality of life issues within the neighborhood and within the purview of sfpd, such as issuing citations for drinking, trespassing, permit violations, littering, and pedestrian safety infractions. The additional police presence adds up to 70 hours per week of police time to the hours already provided by the southern district police station.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The program-spending lines do not add up, so the filing cannot show reliably whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.85 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th 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: 92.1%; rating input score 92; 27th 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.2%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.82; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.7%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.1% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 29 of 29 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $235K · 39 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 17 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 14 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.