Sonoma Valley Authors Festival
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It owes more than it owns.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
The Sonoma Valley Authors Festival(SVAF)has five parts: the Festival, Students Day, Authors on the Plaza, the Virtual Festival, and Special Events.
- Income
- $1.5 million
- Spending
- $1.3 million
- Spent on programs
- 76%
- Reserves
- -0.3 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 78%
- Employees
- 0
- Volunteers
- 66
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 45 out of 100. Higher than 15% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
0 of 35Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.
Debt
0 of 20It owes 104% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 8% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 37% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1576% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 10 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 77 out of 100. Higher than 28% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
25 of 255 of 5 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Independent check of accounts
0 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $1.0 million spent. The Sonoma Valley Authors Festival (SVAF) has four parts: The Festival, Students Day, Authors on the Plaza, and The Virtual Festival (SVAF 360). Our mission is to focus on two things while implementing all parts of the Festival: stimulating the minds and nurturing the souls of readers and enriching students and featuring possibilities for future careers through exposure to authors and thought leaders in science, technology, and medicine.We hosted the 3-day Festival from May 2-4, 2025, at the Sonoma Mission Inn for over 350 attendees. Twenty-five presentations were made by authors, who had written a book, and thought leaders in science, technology, and medicine in TED-talk style. All presentations were video-recorded.Students Day at Sonoma Valley High School featured six different authors and over 1,000 of their books were given away free to over 1,500 students. Students Day at the elementary schools featured a local Sonoma children's book author who made presentations at five schools to over 600 kids. Over 2,000 free books were distributed to the kids who attended the presentations as well as to schools who were unable to schedule the live presentations. All elementary school libraries received copies of several of the authors titles.Three of our authors spoke for free for three hours to over 1,000 community members at the Sonoma Plaza - the 8-acre town square with towering trees and manicured lawn. Over 1,000 books from previous years were given away free to the attendees. The Virtual Festival - video-recordings of all of the Festival presentations were made available free online for one month after the live Festival was over. Hundreds of individuals watched many hundreds of hours of presentations.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since June 2020.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.