Important note on the timeliness of ratings

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 As a result, the Financial and Accountability & Transparency score for Covenant House California is outdated and the overall rating may not be representative of its current operations.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.

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Star Rating System by Charity Navigator

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.

Exceptional

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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Star Rated Report

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Program Expense

Program Expense Ratio

95.5%

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

Administrative Expenses

1.5%

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

Fundraising Expenses

2.8%

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

Liabilities to Assets Ratio

27.0%

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

Fundraising Efficiency

$0.02

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

Working Capital Ratio

1.04 years

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

Program Expense Growth

22.65%

We compute the average annual growth of program expenses using the following formula: [(Y_n/Y₀)^(1/n)]-1, where Y₀ is a charity's program expenses in the first year of the interval analyzed, Y_n is the charity's program expenses in the most recent year, and n is the interval of years passed between Y₀ and Y_n.

Source: IRS Form 990

Governance

Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has these governance practices in place.

Sources Include: IRS Form 990

Governance:
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: Full Credit: There has been no diversion of assets within the last two years. Partial Credit: There has been a diversion of assets within the last two years and the charity has used Schedule O on the Form 990 to explain: the nature of the diversion, the amount of money or property involved and the corrective action taken to address the matter. In this situation, we deduct 7 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. No Credit: There has been a diversion of assets within the last two years and the charity's explanation on Schedule O is either non-existent or not sufficient. In this case, we deduct 15 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. (Less)
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. Full Credit: The charity's audited financials were prepared by an independent accountant with an audit oversight committee. Partial Credit: The charity's audited financials were prepared by an independent accountant, but it did not have an audit oversight committee. In this case, we deduct 7 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. No Credit: The charity did not have its audited financials prepared by an independent accountant. In this case, we deduct 15 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. (Less)
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)

Policies

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:
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: Yes: This charity has a written donor privacy policy published on its website, which states unambiguously that (1) it will not share or sell a donor's personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations or (2) it will only share or sell personal information once the donor has given the charity specific permission to do so. Opt-out: The charity has a written privacy policy published on its website which enables donors to tell the charity to remove their names and contact information from lists the charity shares or sells. How a donor can have themselves removed from a list differs from one charity to the next, but any and all opt-out policies require donors to take specific action to protect their privacy. No: This charity either does not have a written donor privacy policy in place to protect their contributors' personal information, or the existing policy does not meet our criteria. 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)

Transparency

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:
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)

Additional Information

Unscored

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Total Revenue and Expenses

This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.

Salary of Key Persons

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

William Bedrossian, Executive Director

$251,079 (1.36% of Total Expenses)

Current CEO and Board Chair can be found in the Leadership & Adaptability report below.

Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2020

Business Master File Data

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

Activities:

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc. (BMF activity code: 320)

Foundation Status:

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)

Affiliation:

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)

Data Sources: IRS Forms 990

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).

Pandemic Response

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.

Covenant House California reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:

Program Delivery
Fundraising Capacity
Revenue
Staffing
Administrative Capacity
Balance Sheet

How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:

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.

How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:

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.

How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:

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.

Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:

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.

Historical Ratings

Date Published	Form 990 FYE	Overall Score	Overall Rating
Rating Version: 2.1
4/1/2022	2020	96.46
6/1/2021	2019	96.46
2/1/2020	2018	96.46
11/1/2018	2017	95.24
10/1/2018	2017	93.13
This organization received multiple star ratings within this fiscal year, due to an update to its Accountability and Transparency data and/or the receipt of an amended Form 990.
8/1/2017	2016	92.05
10/1/2016	2015	91.17
6/1/2016	2014	92.39

Rating Version: 2.0
10/1/2015	2014	86.69
10/1/2014	2013	89.05
6/1/2013	2012	90.46
9/1/2012	2011	89.13
6/1/2012	2011	88.33
3/1/2012	2010	90.34
9/20/2011	2010	88.81

Rating Version: 1.0
7/1/2011	2010	83.47
10/1/2010	2009	84.08
11/1/2009	2008	85.70
10/1/2008	2007	78.84
7/1/2007	2006	74.65
5/1/2006	2005	75.76
3/1/2005	2004	76.34
5/1/2004	2003	77.09
2/5/2003	2002	81.17
10/15/2002	2001	73.28

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Impact & Results

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.

Impact & Results Score

100

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.

Impact

$60 provides a night of shelter to a person experiencing homelessness.

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Impact & Results Report

100

of 100 points

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Rated Program

Program

Safe Haven

Activities

The nonprofit provides people experiencing homelessness with a temporary place to stay.

Program Type

Emergency Shelter

Beneficiaries Served

Children and youth

Program Geography

California

Time Period of Data

7/1/20 to 7/7/20

Learn how we assess the impact of nonprofits

Outcomes and Cost

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.

Outcome Metric

A night of shelter for a person experiencing homelessness

Outcome Data Source

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.

Method for Attributing Outcomes

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.

Cost Data Source

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.

Cost Calculation

$2,234,330 program costs + $0 partner costs + $0 beneficiary costs = $2,234,330 total costs

Impact and Determination

We calculate impact, defined as the change in outcomes attributable to a program divided by the cost to achieve those outcomes.

Impact Calculation

$2,234,330 total costs / 37,320 nights of shelter provided = roughly $60 provides a night of shelter to a person experiencing homelessness.

Benchmark for Rating

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.

Determination

Highly cost-effective

Analysis Details

Analysis conducted in 2021 by Charity Navigator using data submitted by the nonprofit, theory and evidence from scientific research studies, and public datasets.