Nonprofit · EIN 84-4618329
INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION
Tax-exempt · OAKLAND, CA 94609
Financials
| Year ended | Form | Revenue | Expenses | Net income | Total assets | Liabilities | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 31, 2025 | 990 | $252,646 | $285,645 | -$32,999 | $90,180 | $52,798 | $37,382 |
| December 31, 2024 | 990 | $254,981 | $195,651 | $59,330 | $124,678 | $54,977 | $69,701 |
| December 31, 2023 | 990-EZ | $190,228 | $175,129 | $15,099 | $39,035 | $29,124 | $9,911 |
Financial details: 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025
Revenue
- Contributions, gifts and grants
- $248,526
- Program service revenue
- $0
- Investment income
- $0
- Other revenue
- $4,120
Expenses
- Grants and similar amounts paid
- $0
- Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
- $12,019
- Other salaries and wages
- $154,154
- Salaries, compensation and benefits (total)
- $210,213
- Professional fundraising fees
- $0
- Legal fees
- $4,140
- Accounting fees
- $184
- Occupancy
- $3,670
- Travel
- $9,265
- Program services (functional)
- $268,763
- Management and general (functional)
- $13,453
- Fundraising (functional)
- $3,429
Balance sheet and other
- Total assets, start of year
- $124,678
- Total assets, end of year
- $90,180
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $52,798
- Net assets, end of year
- $37,382
- Land, buildings and equipment
- $8,166
- Gross receipts
- $252,646
- Employees
- 4
- Volunteers
- 1
- Year formed
- 2020
- State of legal domicile
- CA
From the e-filed returns the IRS publishes as XML (latest three processing years; amended returns replace the original). PDF copies at the IRS.
Officers, directors and key employees
As listed on the 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025, highest compensation first.
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geoffrey W King | President & CEO Officer | 40 | $12,019 |
| Brendan Riley | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Nick Swyter | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Dan Rubins | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Kimberly Spencer | Treasurer Officer | 1 | $0 |
| Harlo Holmes | Secretary Officer | 1 | $0 |
990 for the year ended December 31, 2024: 5 people
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geoffrey W King | President Officer | 40 | $900 |
| Brendan Riley | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Dan Rubins | Director Trustee or director | 1 | $0 |
| Kimberly Spencer | Treasurer Officer | 1 | $0 |
| Harlo Holmes | Secretary Officer | 1 | $0 |
990-EZ for the year ended December 31, 2023: 5 people
| Name | Title | Hours / week | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geoffrey W King | President | 40 | $150 |
| Victoria Baranetsky | Secretary | 1 | $0 |
| Sophia Cope | Director | 1 | $0 |
| Harlo Holmes | Director | 1 | $0 |
| Dan Rubins | Treasurer | 1 | $0 |
Address and contacts
- Address (IRS master file)
- 490 43RD STREET SUITE 12, OAKLAND, CA 94609-2138
- In care of
- % GEOFFREY KING
- Mailing address (990-N for 2020)
- PO Box 4344, Vallejo CA 94590
- Principal officer (990 for 2025)
- Geoffrey W King, 490 43rd Street 12, Oakland, CA 94609
- Principal officer (990-N for 2020)
- Geoffrey W King, PO Box 4344, Vallejo CA 94590
- Signed the 990
- Geoffrey W King, President
- Phone
- (707) 847-8398
- Website
- openvallejo.org
- Return prepared by
- HARMON BURSTYN CPA
California records
California keeps its own records of charities and corporations. Search them by EIN 84-4618329 or by the name INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION.
- Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers
- Registration status and filed reports (CT-TR-1, RRF-1)
- Secretary of State, bizfile Online
- Corporation status, entity number, agent for service
- Franchise Tax Board
- Entity status letter (state tax exemption, good standing)
Mission
Informed California Foundations primary activity is original public service news reporting, initially in Vallejo and then in other locations in California. This explanatory and investigative reporting illuminates local and state institutions, public and private individuals holding disproportionate power, and underreported themes such as civil rights and municipal corruption. The organization features deeply researched reporting and expert analysis to ensure the public, policymakers, enforcement bodies, and other stakeholders have access to comprehensive and contextualized information on topics of relevance to the community. Informed Californias news content and method of producing the content is educational and consistent with tax requirements. The purpose of the reporting is to provide readers with sufficient information and development to aid readers in forming an independent opinion about issues of relevance and importance in the local community. This reporting and expert analysis t
Program accomplishments
- Investigative Reporting in the Public InterestOpen Vallejo published groundbreaking, original stories in 2025 that generated major impact in Vallejo, across California, and nationally.Open Vallejo broke a major national story when it was the sole newsroom to report from the scene of 82-year-old Curtis Linds homicide in Vallejo in January 2025. The newsroom soon connected Linds killing to a group of bright young people who authorities allege are connected to half a dozen homicides around the country. Open Vallejo repeatedly scooped far larger and better-resourced outlets, and was featured in a major national program.In May 2025, Open Vallejo published I cant breathe: video shows death Vallejo police concealed for years, a major new investigation and accompanying video revealing body camera footage and chilling new details about the 2016 death of Darryl Dean Mefferd in Vallejo police custody. The investigation, distinct from the newsrooms original 2024 report, was made possible by Open Vallejos public records litigation and ongoing reporting, which convinced four outside law enforcement agencies to release their records even as the city of Vallejo refused. The investigation won the June 2025 Sidney Award, among other honors. After Mefferds family filed a civil rights lawsuit, a federal judge subsequently ruled that Vallejo could not invoke a statute of limitations defense due to allegations that officials actively concealed Mefferds death, and cited Open Vallejos reporting for bringing the incident to light.Open Vallejo reported from the scene of an August 29, 2025 police shooting in which two young Vallejo officers shot a 24-year-old man amid an apparent mental health crisis. The newsrooms ongoing reporting began when reporters filed public records requests before the crime scene tape came down. We then exclusively obtained and published more than an hour of footage officials fought to keep secret, and revealed that two police oversight officials posted online comments that experts said threatened the integrity of the investigation. Open Vallejo also obtained records showing the mayor expressed grave concerns over those comments to the police chief and city manager, who ignored her. The day after the story ran, one of the officials who commented resigned.Open Vallejo investigated the prosecution of Jos Carrizales, a formerly homeless activist facing a dozen charges including six counts of Disturbing the Peace by Offensive Language for criticizing police at encampment sweeps. The newsroom obtained body camera footage and incident reports from six incidents, analyzed a decade of criminal charging data across all nine Bay Area counties, and consulted leading First Amendment experts who concluded the charges raised serious constitutional concerns.Open Vallejo reported on former Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams testimony that he was threatened and harassed out of the job, shedding new light on an incident the newsroom first reported in 2022.Open Vallejo also published a practical public service guide helping Vallejo residents locate free groceries when federal food assistance programs were suspended, correcting outdated information on government and nonprofit websites.Public Records Requests and LitigationOpen Vallejo filed numerous public records requests in 2025, prompting the release of a large number of public records. The newsroom continued enforcement litigation against the city of Vallejo to compel disclosure of public records related to police shootings and serious uses of force, even after a prior ruling in the newsrooms favor. The litigation continued to generate new public record releases. Open Vallejo also continued its prosecution of a separate public records lawsuit against the Solano County District Attorney and Sheriff for police accountability records, which similarly resulted in the disclosure of records that had remained out of public view for years.Freedom of the PressOpen Vallejos reporting first revealed to the public that Vallejo police officers bent the points of their star-shaped badges to mark each person they killed, prompting the ACLU of Northern California to sue the city for attempting to keep its own investigation into the practice under wraps. Open Vallejo filed two amicus briefs in the case. In June 2025, the California Court of Appeal ruled in favor of transparency, setting important statewide precedent for public access to government investigations.Open Vallejo continued as a founding client of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Presss Protecting Journalists Pro Bono Program, including through the public records litigation referenced above.Open Vallejos reporting helped persuade the California State Bar to open a confidential inquiry into the Vallejo City Attorneys Office, reflecting the broader accountability impact of the newsrooms investigative work.Transparency Infrastructure and Public ResourcesOpen Vallejo continued building the Vallejo Peoples Archive, a free, searchable public resource of digitized local historical records. In 2025, the archive grew to more than one million digitized, OCRd pages of historical newsprint spanning the mid-1800s through much of the 20th century. The archive, which Open Vallejo has made available to the public, serves reporters, researchers, and community members.Open Vallejo began developing a real-time police scanner monitoring system that uses technology to alert reporters to significant incidents referenced in police radio traffic. The tool is designed for scalability and replication by other newsrooms.Expenses $268,763
What it must file and when
IRS records say it files Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N. Its accounting year ends in December, so each return is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after that.
| Tax year | Year ended | Due | IRS public records |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | December 31, 2025 | May 15, 2026 | 990 on file |
| 2024 | December 31, 2024 | May 15, 2025 | 990 on file |
| 2023 | December 31, 2023 | May 15, 2024 | 990-EZ on file |
IRS record
- EIN
- 84-4618329
- Tax-exempt status
- 501(c)(3): Charitable, religious, educational or scientific organization
- Foundation status
- Publicly supported organization (170(b)(1)(A)(vi))
- Donations deductible (Pub 78)
- Public charity, 50% deduction limit
- Exempt since
- 2020
- Accounting year ends
- December
- Files
- Form 990 or 990-EZ
- Category (NTEE)
- Education (B99)
- Assets (IRS master file)
- $90,180
- Income (IRS master file)
- $252,646
Filing history
| Form | Year ended | Revenue | Expenses | Assets | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 990 | December 2025 | $252,646 | $285,645 | $90,180 | XML |
| 990 | December 2024 | $254,981 | $195,651 | $124,678 | XML |
| 990-EZ | December 2023 | $190,228 | $175,129 | $39,035 | XML |
| 990-EZ | December 2022 | – | – | – | IRS |
| 990-EZ | December 2021 | – | – | – | IRS |
| 990-N for 2020 Officer: Geoffrey W King | December 31, 2020 | ≤ $50,000 receipts | – | – | e-Postcard |
990-N: the IRS bulk file holds only the latest e-Postcard per organization; earlier years come from archived copies of that file since 2020 and can have gaps (the IRS e-Postcard search lists every one). 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T: every e-filed return in the IRS e-file index since 2019; XML for the latest three processing years, amounts from the IRS Statistics of Income extracts before that. PDF copies and determination letters at the IRS (search EIN 84-4618329).
Questions about INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION
- What is the EIN of INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION?
- The employer identification number (EIN) of INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION is 84-4618329.
- Is INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION tax-exempt?
- Yes. The IRS lists it as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) since 2020.
- Are donations to INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION tax-deductible?
- Yes. It is listed in IRS Publication 78 (Public charity, 50% deduction limit).
- Which annual return does INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION file?
- Form 990 or 990-EZ. Based on its last return; a smaller organization may file the 990-N.
- When is the next return of INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION due?
- The return for tax year 2026 (the year ending December 31, 2026) is due May 17, 2027. Form 8868 extends it by six months; the 990-N cannot be extended.
- When did INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION last file with the IRS?
- The latest return in the IRS public files is the 990 for the year ended December 2025.
- Who is the principal officer of INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION?
- The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 names Geoffrey W King.
- Who are the officers and directors of INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION?
- The 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 lists 6 people; 1 received compensation from the organization, the highest $12,019 (Geoffrey W King, President & CEO).
- How much revenue does INFORMED CALIFORNIA FOUNDATION have?
- On its 990 for the year ended December 31, 2025 it reported revenue of $252,646, expenses of $285,645 and total assets of $90,180 at year end.
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