Charitable Sector Profile: San Diego

San Diego’s Charities No Longer Lead the Nation

Charity Navigator's sixth annual study examined the differences that exist in the financial practices of charities located in 30 metropolitan markets across America. The 50 largest charities in San Diego exhibited the following:

San Diego's philanthropic marketplace no longer Tops in the nation: For the first time in three years, San Diego’s charitable community is not ranked first in the nation for fiscal health. This year, San Diego slips to the second spot, behind Miami, with a median overall score of 57.90. But this year’s median score is actually greater than last years (57.01) indicating that the fiscal performance of San Diego’s charities didn’t actually decline, rather charities in Miami demonstrated better fiscal health.

Large charities in San Diego reduce their spending on fundraising and become more efficient in their fundraising endeavors: Of the 30 cities in the study, San Diego’s charities spend the 4th least on fundraising expenses (6.0%) and 2nd least to bring in a dollar in contributions ($.0.080). This is an improvement from last year when these charities ranked 5th for fundraising expenses (6.2%) and 10th for fundraising efficiency ($0.093).

CEOs in San Diego are rewarded handsomely for their charity’s performance: Last year, the median compensation awarded to CEOs in the San Diego metropolitan area was $99,611 (3rd lowest). Since then, San Diego’s nonprofit leaders appear to have received generous raises. These leaders now earn the 2nd highest salary, $154,285, which is significantly higher than the national median of $114,038.

Charities in San Diego are larger than those in other parts of the country: San Diego's largest charities reported $8.3 million in total revenue (3rd largest), $7.8 million in total expenses (3rd largest) and $12.5 million in total assets (8th largest). This is larger than the national median of $4.9 million in revenues, $4.3 million in expenses and $7.0 million in assets for all 5,332 charities evaluated by Charity Navigator.

San Diego’s philanthropic marketplace is dominated by human services charities: 26% of the largest charities in San Diego are categorized as human services.

Like other cities in CA, less than half of San Diego’s charities have implemented donor privacy policies: 44% of San Diego’s charities have policies in place to protect their donors’ confidential information. Los Angeles (44%) and San Francisco (43%) have similar percentages of charities with such policies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sandra Miniutti, Vice President, Marketing
(201) 818-1288 x105
media@charitynavigator.org

  Median Value
Performance Metrics San Diego National
Program Expenses 80.7% 80.7%
Administrative Expenses 11.2% 9.7%
Fundraising Expenses 6.0% 7.5%
Fundraising Efficiency $0.080 $0.100
Primary Revenue Growth 10.2% 6.6%
Program Expense Growth 8.2% 6.1%
Working Capital Ratio 0.79 0.70
Overall Score 57.90 54.26
  Median Value
Size Metrics San Diego National
Total Revenue $8,287,950 $4,868,385
Total Expenses $7,833,480 $4,327,121
Excess (or deficit) $260,441 $255,526
Total Assets $12,501,510 $7,024,941
Total Contributions $4,403,835 $3,271,779
CEO Compensation $154,285 $114,038

Size & Wealth
San Diego Charitable Market


Distribution of San Diego Charities

© 2008 Charity Navigator. Note: all data is based on Charity Navigator's May 2008 Metro Market Charitable Analysis Study. These sector reports do not claim to represent median data for all charities. Charity Navigator is the largest evaluator of 501 (c) (3) charities in the U.S.