2023-11-14T11:19:39-08:00 2022-12-31 204994635 Iryna AC 1000 Broadway Ste 200-C Oakland CA 94607 990 2022-01-01 273816952 Students Matter STUD 3238922080 325 Sharon Park Drive 521 Menlo Park CA 94025 David Welch President 2023-11-14 true David Welch 999009999 true Kostyantyn Oreshkov EA P00923916 5104679506 2 AAL1 IAL1 FAL1 2022 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z David Welch 325 Sharon Park Drive 521 Menlo Park CA 94025 650944 false X studentsmatter.org X 2010 CA Students Matter will continue to pursue a diverse set of program opportunities focused at delivering their legal right to a quality education. 2 2 0 4 0 310000 650143 0 4 801 0 310004 650944 0 0 0 83034 83034 119375 504806 119375 587840 190629 63104 210097 323770 7500 58069 202597 265701 Students Matter continues to engage in defending the rights of school children. This past year, in support of the children while moving to a distant learning environment, Students Matter supported the families of LAUSD in their pursuit of adequate support for at home students. We continue to find opportunities where we can elevate the rights of children including the pursuit of defining children as a protected legal class of citizenry, creating a CA constitutional amendment protecting the childrens right to a quality education. false false 502070 Students Matter continues tocontinue to find opportunities where we can elevate the rights of children including creating a CA constitutional amendment protecting the childrens right to a quality education. We believethat all of Californias school-age children should have the right to attend a high-quality public school governed by policies that prioritize their educational interests. 502070 true true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 6 0 true 0 false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 2 2 false false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true true false false false CA X Jeff Child 4159991091 52 Politzer Drive Menlo Park CA 94025 X David Welch President 10.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Ajit Shah Secretary 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 0 false false false 50CAN Inc 1380 Monroe Street NW 413 Washington DC 20010 Strategy for referendum 121000 1 650143 650143 0 801 801 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 650944 801 X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1800 1800 0 83034 83034 0 139000 139000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Public relations 185500 185500 Community Outreach 177570 177570 Dues, Fees & Other Charges 936 936 0 587840 502070 2736 83034 1718 210097 322052 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 210097 323770 7500 58069 7500 58069 X 202597 265701 202597 265701 210097 323770 63104 X false false false X 2283816 269173 303289 310000 650143 3816421 0 0 2283816 269173 303289 310000 650143 3816421 2662567 1153854 609 1146 474 4 801 3034 0 0 3819455 0.30210 0.28670 X Current Year Facts and Circumstances: Students Matter is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation that formed in 2010. Its specific purpose has always been to make a high-quality public education a constitutional right under the Constitution of the State of California more specifically, that the State of California and each of its school districts must provide all public school students with high-quality public schools (schools that equip said students with the tools necessary to participate fully in our economy, our society, and our democracy).The first charitable activity it undertook was to pursue, and provide all of the funding for, a lawsuit brought by 9 students who sued the State of California claiming that the quality of education they were receiving was so poor that it was violating their constitutional rights under the Constitution of the State of California (the case was titled Vergara v. California). The case was won by the students at the Superior Court level. The appellate court overruled the Superior Court, and the California Supreme Court, by a 4-3 margin in which two of the dissenting judges wrote compelling opinions regarding the merits of the case, declined to accept review of the appellate court decision.Vergara cost approximately thirty million dollars through 2017 to fund and fully pay off, and after its conclusion, Students Matters directors and advisory board wanted to continue to find other ways of pursuing its charitable purpose. Accordingly, Students Matter at that time needed to come up with additional capital to fund subsequent efforts to make a high quality public education in California constitutionally guaranteed.Students Matter has always relied on meeting the public support test, and thus qualifying as a public charity, by meeting the one-third of public support requirement found in Internal Revenue Code Section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi). Since its inception, Students Matter has been classified as a publicly supported organization each year through 2021. In 2022, its public support percentage, in the aggregate, for calendar years 2018-2022 is 30.21%, which is less than 33.34%, which means that in order to be classified as a public charity for 2022, it needs to meet the facts and circumstances test.The first criteria of the facts and circumstances test is that Students Matters public support percentage in the aggregate for calendar years 2018-2022 be at least 10%; it is 30.21%. The second criteria is that Students Matter must be organized and operated so as to attract new and additional public support on a continuous basis, and that it maintains a continuous and bona fide program for the solicitation of funds from the general public or other public charities. In examining this criteria, consideration is to be given to whether the scope of its fundraising activities is reasonable in light of its charitable activities, and the fact that an organization in its early stages may limit the scope of its solicitation to persons deemed most likely to provide seed money in an amount sufficient to enable it to commence its charitable activities and expand its solicitation program.Since its inception, Students Matter has been organized and operated so as to attract new and additional public support, evidenced by the fact that it was classified as a publicly supported charity from its inception in 2010 until 2021. The problem for 2022 is that Students Matter in 2017 had depleted almost all of its assets in supporting and funding Vergara. Even though it was only 7 years old, it basically needed some seed money to pay off outstanding bills, pay staff, and continue to do activities in alignment with its charitable purpose. Accordingly, one of its directors, David Welch, and his family contributed over $1,921,000 in 2018, the first year of the 2018-2022 timeframe that is being examined here, which is over 84% of the total support raised by Students Matter in 2018. Importantly, to show that Students Matter isnt an organization designed to receive all or most of its support from David Welch and his family, they have only contributed $286,000 since 2018, and nothing in calendar years 2021, 2022 and 2023.Further evidence of Students Matter being operated so as to attract new public support is the fact that it has for the past couple of years worked with two fundraisers, Tracy Austin and Amy Thornton, to fundraise from new and continuing sources. Evidence of their success can be found in the support received by Students Matter in 2023. Of the $407,000 received so far in 2023, $395,000 of it has been received from community foundations/charitable funds, all of which are currently classified as public charities, which means that all of said support would be included in both the numerator and denominator of the fraction used to determine the percentage of public support received by Students Matter in the future. Furthermore, the only time where a substantial contribution during the relevant timeframe of 2018-2022 has caused a significant problem insofar as Students Matter meeting the public support test was during 2018 (a year which will no longer be relevant in future public support test calculations), when, because of the depletion of almost all of its assets caused by taking a case all the way to the California Supreme Court, Students Matter limited the scope of its solicitations to persons deemed most likely to provide seed money in an amount sufficient to enable it to commence its charitable activities and expand its solicitation program.If the first two criteria have been met, then there are a few factors which the IRS examines in totality to ascertain if Students Matter was publicly supported for purposes of the facts and circumstances test. Students Matter isnt required to satisfy every single one of these factors, as the factors relevant to each case and the weight accorded to any one of them may differ depending on the organizations nature, charitable purpose and the length of time it has been in existence. These factors are:Percentage of Financial Support: The actual percentage of public support received by Students Matter from public or governmental sources will be taken into consideration, and the higher this percentage is and the closer it is to 33.34%, the lesser will be the burden of establishing the publicly supported nature of Students Matter through other factors. The percentage of public support received by Students Matter from 2018-2022 is 30.21% which is very close to 33.34%.Sources of Support: The IRS will examine whether or not Students Matter received its support directly or indirectly from a representative number of persons, rather than receiving almost all of its support from a few individuals and/or family units. The response to this factor can mainly be found in the response above to the second criteria of the facts and circumstances test namely, that Students Matter has generally from its outset raised support from the general public. Representative Governing Body: A positive factor is if Students Matters governing body represents the broad interests of the public, rather than the personal interests of a limited number of donors. The official board of directors of Students Matter currently consists of David Welch and Ajit Shah. However, it has an advisory board of 5 people, all of whom (i) meet the criteria set forth by the IRS as to what it likes to see, (ii) provide meaningful and constructive ideas and guidance to Students Matter, (iii) actively attempt to fundraise for it and (iv) are so busy and have such serious character that they wouldnt spend time being involved with any organization were their ideas not taken very seriously. These individuals are:Antonio Villaraigosa former mayor of Los AngelesBen Austin Founding Director, Education Civil Rights NowJames Liebman, Ph.D Simon Rifkind Professor, Columbia Law SchoolMichael Stoppleman Former SVP of Engineering at Yelp, now an investorRick Tinsley Co-Chair of Govern for California Courage CommitteeAvailability of Public Facilities or Services; Public Participation in Programs or Policies: The fact that an organization generally provides facilities or services directly for the benefit of the general public on a continuing basis is to be considered evidence by the IRS that such organization is publicly supported. Students Matter at present does not have any facilities open to the public. However, it is organized and operated to serve the needs of all of the public school students currently in California and all future public school students in California, and every single one of its activities is designed to carry out that purpose.In conclusion, Students Matter strongly believes that is has met the facts and circumstances test, and that the IRS should make an official finding of that. If it doesnt, that would mean Students Matter would be classified as a private foundation for 2022, and the earliest year it could qualify as a public charit RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED X X X X true Tracy Austin Inc 9869 Easton Drive Beverly Hills CA 90210 General fundraising false 650143 83034 567109 false 650143 83034 567109 CA Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b Audit committee reviews and then approves the Form 990. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c All Board members are required to disclose potential conflicts as they arise and then excuse themselves from any board vote covering such conflicts. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Governing documents are made available to the public immediately upon request of such information.