Mission: Covenant House California is dedicated to serving all God's children, with absolute respect and unconditional love, to help youth experiencing homelessness, and to protect and safeguard all youth in need.
Covenant House California (CHC) is a non-profit youth homeless shelter that provides sanctuary and support for homeless and trafficked youth, ages 18-24. We believe that no young person deserves to be homeless; that every young person in California deserves shelter, food, clothing, education … and most importantly, to be loved.
CHC provides a full continuum of services to meet the physical, emotional, educational, vocational, and spiritual well-being of young people, in order to provide them with the best chance for success in independence.
Covenant House California is a 501(c)(3) organization, with an IRS ruling year of 1991, and donations are tax-deductible.
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Contact Information
http://www.covenanthousecalifornia.org
1325 North Western Avenue
Hollywood CA 90027
The IRS is significantly delayed in processing nonprofits' annual tax filings (Forms 990). As a result, the Financial and Accountability & Transparency score for Covenant House California is outdated and the overall rating may not be representative of its current operations. Please check with the charity directly for any questions you may have.
Charity Navigator evaluates a nonprofit organization’s financial health including measures of stability, efficiency and sustainability. We also track accountability and transparency policies to ensure the good governance and integrity of the organization.
This charity's score is 96.46, earning it a 4-Star rating. Donors can "Give with Confidence" to this charity.
This score is calculated from two sub-scores:
Finance: 95.00 View details
Accountability & Transparency: 100.00 View details
This score represents Form 990 data from 2020, the latest year published by the IRS.
View this organization’s historical ratings.
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The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s).
This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. Dividing a charity's average program expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
As reported by charities on their IRS Form 990, this measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on overhead, administrative staff and associated costs, and organizational meetings. Dividing a charity's average administrative expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. Fundraising expenses can include campaign printing, publicity, mailing, and staffing and costs incurred in soliciting donations, memberships, and grants. Dividing a charity's average fundraising expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990).
Part of our goal in rating the financial performance of charities is to help donors assess the financial capacity and sustainability of a charity. As do organizations in other sectors, charities must be mindful of their management of total liabilites in relation to their total assets. This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and or long term sustainability. Dividing a charity's total liabilities by its total assets yields this percentage.
Source: IRS Form 990
The amount spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. We calculate the charity's average expenses and average contributions over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Determines how long a charity could sustain its level of spending using its net available assets, or working capital, as reported on its most recently filed Form 990. We include in a charity's working capital unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets, and exclude permanently restricted net assets. Dividing these net available assets in the most recent year by a charity's average total expenses, yields the working capital ratio. We calculate the charity's average total expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
We compute the average annual growth of program expenses using the following formula: [(Yn/Y0)(1/n)]-1, where Y0 is a charity's program expenses in the first year of the interval analyzed, Yn is the charity's program expenses in the most recent year, and n is the interval of years passed between Y0 and Yn.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has these governance practices in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990
Governance: | |
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Independent Voting Board Members ... (More) | |
No Material Diversion of Assets ... (More) A diversion of assets – any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft – can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We check the charity's last two Forms 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets. If the charity does report a diversion, then we check to see if it complied with the Form 990 instructions by describing what happened and its corrective action. This metric will be assigned to one of the following categories:
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Audited Financials Prepared by Independent Accountant ... (More) Audited financial statements provide important information about financial accountability and accuracy. They should be prepared by an independent accountant with oversight from an audit committee. (It is not necessary that the audit committee be a separate committee. Often at smaller charities, it falls within the responsibilities of the finance committee or the executive committee.) The committee provides an important oversight layer between the management of the organization, which is responsible for the financial information reported, and the independent accountant, who reviews the financials and issues an opinion based on its findings. We check the charity's Form 990 reporting to see if it meets this criteria.
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Does Not Provide Loan(s) to or Receive Loan(s) From Related Parties ... (More) | |
Documents Board Meeting Minutes ... (More) | |
Distributes 990 to Board Before Filing ... (More) | |
Compensates Board ... (More) |
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization has these policies in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
Policies: | |
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Conflict of Interest ... (More) | |
Whistleblower ... (More) | |
Records Retention and Destruction ... (More) | |
CEO Compensation Process ... (More) | |
Donor Privacy ... (More) Donors can be reluctant to contribute to a charity when their name, address, or other basic information may become part of donor lists that are exchanged or sold, resulting in an influx of charitable solicitations from other organizations. Our analysts check the charity's website to see if the organization has a donor privacy policy in place and what it does and does not cover. Privacy policies are assigned to one of the following categories:
The privacy policy must be specific to donor information. A general website policy which references "visitor" or "user" personal information will not suffice. A policy that refers to donor information collected on the website is also not sufficient as the policy must be comprehensive and applicable to both online and offline donors. The existence of a privacy policy of any type does not prohibit the charity itself from contacting the donor for informational, educational, or solicitation purposes. (Less) |
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization makes this information easily accessible.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
Transparency: | |
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CEO Salary Listed on 990 ... (More) | |
Board of Directors Listed on Website ... (More) | |
Key Staff Listed on Website ... (More) | |
Audited Financial Statements on Website ... (More) | |
Form 990 Available on Website ... (More) |
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This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
Presented here are this organizations key compensated staff members as identified by our analysts. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. In some cases, these amounts may include compensation from related organizations. Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting
Current CEO and Board Chair can be found in the Leadership & Adaptability report below.
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2020
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc. (BMF activity code: 320)
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to view this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available).
Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Program Delivery
Fundraising Capacity
Revenue
Staffing
Administrative Capacity
Balance Sheet
As a result of more youth being on campus on a daily basis, staffing costs increased by 25%. This included the implementation of hazard pay. Further, the costs of PPE, additional cleaning supplies, and increased housekeeping rounds/protocols increased our overall janitorial costs by 50%. Finally, due to the increased number of youth on campus, the number of youth in off-campus housing programs who lost their employment, and the additional number of youth served via street outreach, our food costs increased by 40%. CHC was approved for the Federal Government’s Small Business Association (SBA) Payroll Protection Program (PPP) Loan which provided CHC with 10 weeks of funding for our payroll and ensured that we had the money to cover all personnel expenses.
Covenant House California (CHC) met the challenges of the pandemic head-on. Long before COVID, we dedicated ourselves to the principles that guide our work with vulnerable youth you are experiencing homelessness and human trafficking; we support them relentlessly, we love them unconditionally, and we respect them absolutely. As the pandemic changed everything, our intention to be a consistent presence in the midst of chaos – keeping programs open while so many others shut down – and willingness to leverage all our resources toward flexibility have been a demonstration to our youth that they are worth it. Throughout this process we have remained fully operational, maintaining our continuum of care without interruption. With shelter in place orders and prolific job losses our youth faced, we had to increase our staffing resources, food resources, and create opportunities for engagement/activity onsite, as well as set up study areas for youth doing distance learning.
Our staff has worked hard to implement and enforce new health and safety protocols and have been vigilant in finding creative ways to engage the youth in group activities via Zoom meetings, “social distance hikes” and “social distance workouts” where they are able to be active, stretch out, and breathe. These activities have been successful in boosting their energy, their mood and their self-confidence. It’s giving our staff and youth a chance to unwind, enjoy the outdoors and connect with each other in a fun, healthy social setting. It has been remarkable to see so many of our staff inspire and motivate our young people to get tremendous outcomes, given the circumstances. CHC also adapted through changes in the physical layout of our residential spaces. These changes included some reduction of beds per room in order to accommodate for greater physical distancing, and we also converted existing spaces to allow for isolation and quarantine needs.
One innovation that we are particularly proud of is the implementation of a new onsite internship Youth Health Ambassador position that we created as part of our response. This is a stipend position that serves as a liaison between our youth, staff, and program and peer support. The position initially focused on serving as an advocate amongst other youth, encouraging them to take good health practices around COVID-19 more seriously. We are seeing just how powerful this peer-to-peer support is in providing another voice of reason, and that the messaging is not just coming from staff. We will continue to utilize this position to create awareness around all health issues that youth experiencing homelessness face long after the pandemic is behind us.
Previous: Finance & Accountability / Next: Leadership & Adaptability
This score estimates the actual impact a nonprofit has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.
out of 100
Covenant House California is highly cost-effective, earning a passing score. This score has no effect on the organization's Star Rating.
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Safe Haven
The nonprofit provides people experiencing homelessness with a temporary place to stay.
Emergency Shelter
Children and youth
California
7/1/20 to 7/7/20
Outcomes: Changes in the lives of those served by a nonprofit. They can be caused by the nonprofit.
Costs: The money spent by a nonprofit and its partners and beneficiaries.
Impact: Outcome caused by a nonprofit relative to its cost.
Cost-effectiveness: A judgment as to whether the cost was a good use of resources to cause the outcome.
A night of shelter for a person experiencing homelessness
Ratings are based on data the nonprofit itself collects on its work. We use the most recent year with sufficient data. Typically, this data allows us to calculate direct changes in participants' lives, such as increased income.
Outcome data collected during the program. The nonprofit submitted data on nights of shelter provided.
We don't know if the observed changes were caused by the nonprofit's program or something else happening at the same time (e.g., a participant got a raise). To determine causation, we take the outcomes we observe and subtract an estimate of the outcomes that would have happened even without the program (i.e., counterfactual outcomes).
We assume that the provision of shelter by one nonprofit does not diminish the provision of shelter by any other (neighboring) nonprofit. We also assume there is, in general, no slack capacity in the homeless shelter system. In the absence of a given shelter, beneficiaries would not be able to stay at another shelter because other shelters are assumed to have no beds to spare. We therefore set the counterfactual to zero.
After estimating the program's outcomes, we need to determine how much it cost to achieve those outcomes. All monetary costs are counted, whether they are borne by a nonprofit service deliverer or by the nonprofit’s public and private partners.
Program cost data reported by the nonprofit. Partner and beneficiary costs reported by the nonprofit or estimated by Charity Navigator.
$2,234,330 program costs + $0 partner costs + $0 beneficiary costs = $2,234,330 total costs
We calculate impact, defined as the change in outcomes attributable to a program divided by the cost to achieve those outcomes.
$2,234,330 total costs / 37,320 nights of shelter provided = roughly $60 provides a night of shelter to a person experiencing homelessness.
Impact & Results scores of emergency shelters are based on the cost of providing a night of shelter relative to the Fair Market Rent in that county. Programs receive an Impact & Results score of 100 if they are less than 200% the Fair Market Rent and a score of 75 if they are less than 400%. If a nonprofit reports impact but doesn't meet the benchmark for cost-effectiveness, it earns a score of 50.
Highly cost-effective
Analysis conducted in 2021 by Charity Navigator using data submitted by the nonprofit, theory and evidence from scientific research studies, and public datasets.
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Covenant House California reported its three largest programs on its FY 2020 Form 990 as:
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Safe Haven Program
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Right of Passage/Supportive Apartment
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Outreach Programs
Previous: Impact & Results / Next: Culture & Community
This score provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
out of 100
The score earned by Covenant House California is a passing score. This score has no effect on the organization's Star Rating.
Encompass Rating V4 provides an evaluation of the organization's Leadership & Adaptability through the nonprofit organization submitting a survey response directly to Charity Navigator.
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s mission
Covenant House California is a nonprofit youth homeless shelter that provides sanctuary and support for young people overcoming homelessness & trafficking, ages 18 to 24. For over 30 years, Covenant House California has been meeting the needs of youth experiencing homelessness in Northern & Southern California. Covenant House California provides a full continuum of services to meet the physical, emotional, educational, vocational and spiritual well-being of young people, in order to provide them with the best chance for success in independence.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
We believe that no young person deserves to be homeless; that every young person in California deserves shelter, food, clothing, education … and most importantly, to be loved. And we believe that it is our responsibility, as a community, to ensure that young people are given the opportunities that they deserve to achieve their dreams.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Serving More Youth Experiencing Homelessness. CHC is committed to being innovative and maximizing our resources to increase our capacity to serve more homeless youth in relevant and sustainable ways.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Improved Youth Well-Being. CHI is committed to doing everything possible to ensure that each young person that we work with has the opportunity to leave The Cov better off than when they arrived.
Goal Type: Focus on core programs to achieve mission and scale back on programs not seen as core.
Goal Three: CHC as a Leader in Youth Homelessness Advocacy. As a premier provider, CHC will be a leading voice in advocating for the issues affecting youth and create solutions to help end youth homelessness.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
In 2021, CHC's leadership team and board participated in a Core Capacity Study with TCC Group, an outside evaluator. This study provided insight into where we needed to focus our leadership development efforts and resources to build greater agency capacity. The study was reviewed and implemented into our strategic planning efforts. Our leadership team focuses on professional development as a group in bi-weekly meetings using tools such as books, surveys, and mentorship to help guide our professional growth. Another way we invest in leadership development is through a bi-annual two-day leadership retreat, where we gather to strategize around youth and staff feedback collected. Lastly, all members of the leadership team participate in regular role-specific trainings throughout the year to ensure we are always at the forefront of best practices in our field.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
Policy Advocacy
Our staff and leadership team are recognized as experts in the field of serving children and youth. Our team are frequently featured speakers at local, state and federal conferences on homelessness, human trafficking and child welfare. Our team serves as panelists and serves on various boards to support evaluation efforts and advance the understanding of specialized housing solutions for young people. CHC has many strategic partners throughout the state who we join with to serve and provide advocacy within our field. We provide training and liaising with key constituents in the community (law enforcement, school staff, other community providers, etc.) to create awareness around the issues leading to homelessness and human trafficking, develop referrals for our services, and to assist with prevention through education.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
This past year, the most pressing external changes have been the impacts of the pandemic. Local Health Departments have implemented stringent quarantine and intake holds on and off throughout the year at our congregate living sites. To adapt under this new challenge, we implemented training on vaccinations and incentives to promote more of our staff to safeguard our programs by participating in vaccination clinics held at our sites, in order to move towards herd immunity. In early 2021, our local Public Health Departments began requiring proof of vaccination of staff. Due to this requirement, we moved to mandate the vaccination for our team, and are now 100% fully vaccinated, allowing CHC to ensure mission sustainability. Another important way we are adapting is through increased focus on equity, inclusion, and diversity. CHC is committed to maintaining a Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff that reflect our agency’s commitment and represent the youth and community we serve. We urge our partners, vendors, and supporters to make the same commitment. CHC understands that diversity means many different things to many different people and defines it broadly to be inclusive of many different elements of human groups, but to focus particularly on: Racial and ethnic groups, Gender Identity and Expression, Sexual Orientation, and People with Disabilities. Our objectives are to improve equity through promoting justice, impartiality, and fairness within the procedures, processes, and distribution of resources at CHC, and to increase inclusion and foster belonging which ensures diverse individuals can fully participate in agency decision-making processes.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
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President & Chief Executive Officer
Chair
Previous: Leadership & Adaptability
This score provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves. Learn more about how and why we rate Culture & Community.
out of 100
Covenant House California has earned a passing score. This score has no effect on the organization's Star Rating. The organization provided data about how it listens to constituents (Constituent Feedback) and its Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) practices (see report below).
The Culture & Community Beacon is comprised of the following metrics:
Constituent Feedback: 100/100 (30% of beacon score)
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: 100/100 (70% of beacon score)
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70% of beacon score
This organization's score of 100 is a passing score. The organization reported that it is implementing 14 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations implementing effective DEI policies and practices can enhance a nonprofit's decision-making, staff motivation, innovation, and effectiveness.
We are utilizing data collected by Candid to document and assess the DEI practices implemented by the organization. Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to fill out the Equity Strategies section of their Candid profiles to receive a rating.
Learn more about the methodology.
30% of beacon score
This organization reported that it is collecting feedback from the constituents and/or communities it serves. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations that engage in inclusive practices, such as collecting feedback from the people and communities they serve, may be more effective.
We've partnered with Candid to survey organizations about their feedback practices. Nonprofit organizations can fill out the How We Listen section of their Candid profile to receive a rating.
Learn more about the methodology.
Like the overall Encompass Rating System, the Culture & Community Beacon is designed to evolve as metrics are developed and ready for integration. Below you can find more information about the metrics we currently evaluate in this beacon and their relevance to nonprofit performance.
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