Youth Cooking Services

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
871229605
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Larkspur, CA, USA
Phone
4158250561
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nutrition

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$287,146
Expenses
$226,481
Assets
$206,911
Liabilities
$8,083

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LARA RAJNINGER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • SAERI YUK (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LARA RAJNINGER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $6,000 total reported compensation
  • SAERI YUK (PRESIDENT): $6,000 total reported compensation
  • ANGELA TRINH (BOARD MEMBER): $2,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Kids cooking for life empowers san francisco bay area kids and teens with nutritional knowledge and cooking skills for their lifelong health and well-being.

What it reported doing in 2024

General program: hands-on cooking lessons. Students learn to chop, mince, measure, stir, sauté, and simmer together to produce a meal that is shared at the end of the class. We start with a nutrition lesson followed up by a student-led, instructor-supported cooking experience. Our kid-approved recipes are developed by our recipe team and test kitchen. We want students to eat the rainbow and be introduced to a range of new foods and tastes they may never have tried before. Our aim is for them to deepen their appreciation of food and learn to think of creative ways to combine different ingredients and flavors. By learning to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients, students become healthy eating advocates and are empowered to control their long-term health.

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 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.7%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 21.1%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 40.1% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.7% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $191K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $6K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.