Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego
Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego
San Diego CA | IRS ruling year: 1984 | EIN: 33-0039466
Organization Mission
Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
Your donation attempt encountered a problem. Please refresh the page to try again.
You're faster than our page! Give the page a little longer to finish loading and try your donation again.
San Diego CA | IRS ruling year: 1984 | EIN: 33-0039466
Organization Mission
Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
Great
This charity's score is 100%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 90% Accountability & Finance, 10% Leadership & Adaptability. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
Charity Navigator's ratings previously did not consider Leadership & Adaptability, Culture & Community, or Impact & Results. The historic rating mainly reflects a version of today’s Accountability and Finance score. More information on our previous rating methodologies can be found on our rating methodology page.
Date Published | Overall Rating | ||
12/1/2020 | |||
12/1/2019 | |||
12/21/2018 | |||
3/1/2018 | |||
2/1/2017 | |||
6/1/2016 | |||
12/1/2015 | |||
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. | |||
11/1/2014 | |||
12/20/2013 | |||
11/6/2012 | |||
7/1/2012 | |||
6/1/2012 |
Score
Most Recent Fiscal Year:
FY 2022
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
Learn more
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. We check to see that a majority of board members are identified as independent on their tax form.
Source: IRS Form 990
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. For most organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least three independent board members. For large, donor-funded organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least five independent board members
Source: IRS Form 990
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
$2 million or higher and 40% or higher donor support | Expected to complete an audit and have an audit oversight committee |
$1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
$500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
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 — also can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We review the charity's most recent IRS Form 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the IRS Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
Providing copies of the IRS Form 990 to the governing body prior to filing is considered a best practice, as it allows for thorough review by the individuals charged with overseeing the organization. The Form 990 asks the charity to disclose whether or not it has followed this best practice.
Making loans to related parties, such as key officers, staff, or Board members, is not standard practice in the sector as it diverts the charity's funds away from its charitable mission and can lead to real and perceived conflict-of-interest problems.
The IRS requires charities to disclose on their Form 990 any loans to or from current and former officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and other "disqualified persons." Some state laws go so far as to prohibit loans to board members and officers.
Although employees and trustees are permitted to make loans to charities, this practice can also result in real and/or perceived conflict of interest problems for the charity. Furthermore, it is problematic because it indicates that the organization is not financially secure. Our analysts check to see if any loans have been made.
For almost all charities, we check the charity's IRS Form 990 to see if it discloses that the Form 990 is available on the charity's website. As with the audited financial statement, donors need easy access to this financial report to help determine if the organization is managing its financial resources well.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent IRS Form 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization's solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three IRS Forms 990). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
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 IRS Form 990. 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
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 up to five of this organization's highest compensated employees. 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
Christopher J Sichel, President & Ceo (thru 7/9/21)
$206,377
Dana Vandersip, Chief Development Officer
$152,046
Danielle Lopez, Chief Financial & Operating Officer
$148,533
Suzanne Husby, President & Ceo (began 7/10/21)
$139,865
Richard Kelley, Chair
$0
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2022
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
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)
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 search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego) or EIN (330039466) in the 'Search Term' field.
Not Currently Scored
Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego cannot currently be evaluated by our Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Not Currently Scored
Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego cannot currently be evaluated by our Culture & Community methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its Constituent Feedback or Equity Practices strategies.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Score
This beacon 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.
Learn more
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
To reach every eligible child with the life-affirming impact of a wish.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Primary mission: Grant a wish of the highest quality to every eligible child. Ensure that every child feels welcome in the Make-A-Wish community and is able to express a most heartfelt wish.
Goal Type: Focus on core programs to achieve mission and scale back on programs not seen as core.
Goal Two: Gather resources to grant every wish without delay: Procure funding, in-kind, and community support to meet our needs. Engage our team to serve families based on language, culture, and geography.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Three: Enhance our capabilities through tech transformation, deeper engagement of all stakeholders- wish families, volunteers, donors, board members, medical partners, the community, and staff retention.
Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Describe an investment in leadership
All staff are invited to participate in ongoing engagement programs and learning opportunities provided by outside partners. Staff are also encouraged to pursue a variety of leadership skill-building trainings in addition to participating in annual team retreats.
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?
The Make-A-Wish San Diego team regularly engages with the community to spread awareness about our mission, to educate medical professionals about eligibility criteria, to recruit volunteers, and to garner new supporters. This is accomplished by networking at various community events, conducting presentations at local medical facilities, and speaking at conferences and service organization meetings. Our multi-faceted marketing & communications plan includes social media, email, and traditional media elements that highlights the life-changing impact of our mission and invites the public to get involved. We are part of a network of Make-A-Wish chapters committed to a shared vision to grant the wish of every eligible child. Together, we serve every community across the nation and its territories to bring the mission to life in our local regions.
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Throughout the pandemic, we continued granting wishes but in a limited capacity to keep the health and safety of our wish families and volunteers as a top priority. Because we couldn’t grant every wish during that time and new kids continued to be referred, our wish pipeline increased. As we’ve moved out of the pandemic, the number of kids waiting for a wish had risen to the highest level in our organization’s history. The combination of our large wish pipeline and the resumption of almost all wish types meant we had to increase staff and volunteer resources to meet the needs. We also faced the reality of growing wish expenses while fundraising in a tough economic environment but were able to adapt and meet these challenges thanks to the support of our dedicated staff, volunteer team, Board of Directors, and community and corporate partners.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
The Giving Basket is having some issues. If you wish to donate, please refresh the page. If the problem persists contact us.
Cart ID: Not Assigned
The Giving Basket is having some issues. If you wish to donate, please refresh the page. If the problem persists contact us.
Cart ID: Not Assigned