Charity Navigator - Rating for First Graduate

501(c)(3) organization

Donations are tax-deductible

http://www.firstgraduate.org

2973 16th Street
Suite 400
San Francisco CA 94103

San Francisco CA | IRS ruling year: 2001 | EIN: 94-3381171

Organization Mission

In families where no one has ever studied beyond high school, a student's successful completion of college is more than cause for celebration. It's a momentous, life-altering event in that family's history.

First Graduate helps San Francisco students become the first in their families to earn college degrees. Our students are largely immigrants or children of immigrants facing daunting economic and often cultural challenges. Bright and eager to excel in their educations and eventually their careers, they need the sorts of long-term support their less-challenged peers receive to become, and remain, competitive high school and college candidates.

Beginning the summer after 6th grade and continuing through college graduation and beyond, we support each of our students with a comprehensive array of highly effective programs-from individual academic coaching and high school and college admissions guidance to career counseling and more. Lasting between ten and twelve years, the longest of

Rating Information

Great

This charity's score is 98%, 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: 32% Accountability & Finance, 50% Impact & Results, 7% Leadership & Adaptability, 10% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.

Beacon Weights

Historical Ratings

Rating Report

Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability

Impact & ResultsAccountability & FinanceCulture & CommunityLeadership & Adaptability

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)

Impact & Results

Score

100

This beacon estimates the actual impact a charity has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.

Learn more

Metrics

Rated Program

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

Increase in income for a scholarship recipient

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.

Output data collected during the program. The nonprofit submitted data on the dollar value of all scholarships it grants and the number of scholarship recipients, which we use to calculate the additional income that the nonprofit's scholarship program generates.

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 estimate the increase in income caused by a nonprofit's scholarship program in two steps. First, we compare the estimated postsecondary graduation rate of its scholars to that of comparable students who did not receive a scholarship (the “counterfactual”). Our estimates are drawn from rigorous social science studies of similar scholarship programs. The result is the number of scholars whose graduation was caused by the nonprofit. Second, we compare the earnings of graduates to non-graduates based on publicly available census data, matching on student demographic characteristics. We apply the earnings boost owing to a degree to those scholars whose graduation was caused by the nonprofit. Both steps are necessary to properly net out counterfactual successes from observed successes. Otherwise, we would be attributing changes (increase in graduation rate and increase in earnings) to the nonprofit when they would have happened anyway. Few nonprofits estimate the counterfactual themselves, so we construct our own counterfactual estimate based on research and publicly available data.

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

$328,681 program costs + $13,610 partner costs + $13,610 beneficiary costs = $355,900 total costs

Impact and Determination

Equity Practices (6/7)
	We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
	We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and/or portfolios.
	We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization/'s programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
	We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
	We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
	We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured
	We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.

Equity Policies and Procedures (5/7)
	We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
	We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
	We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
	We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
	We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
	We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
	We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.

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Date Published	Form 990 FYE	Overall Score	Overall Rating
Rating Version: 2.1
2/1/2021	2019	79.67
6/1/2020	2018	83.96
12/1/2018	2017	90.80
12/1/2017	2016	88.77
9/1/2017	2016	88.57
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.
10/1/2016	2015	87.49
7/1/2016	2014	81.48
6/1/2016	2014	81.26

Rating Version: 2.0
11/1/2015	2014	81.63
9/1/2014	2013	80.03
8/1/2014	2013	79.43
10/1/2013	2012	83.37
6/1/2013	2011	82.17

First Graduate