American Brain Tumor Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237286648
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7735778750
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,403,007
- Expenses
- $7,771,139
- Assets
- $9,409,673
- Liabilities
- $1,505,927
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Kelly Sitkin (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Kelly Sitkin (President & CEO): $247,619 total reported compensation
- Nicole Willmarth (Chief Mission Officer): $207,222 total reported compensation
- Leslie Crouch (Chief Development Officer): $151,798 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mission statement the mission of the american brain tumor association (abta) is to advance the understanding and treatment of brain tumors with the goals of improving, extending and, ultimately, saving the lives of those impacted by a brain tumor diagnosis. We do this through interactions and engagement with brain tumor patients and their families; collaborations with allied groups and organizations; and the funding of brain tumor research. Impact statement founded in 1973, the american brain tumor association was the first national non-profit organization committed to funding brain tumor research and providing information and education for all brain tumor types across all age groups.
What it reported doing in 2025
See "Program Service" attachment
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.2%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 81%; rating input score 81; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.21; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.2% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $248K · 14 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 38 of 40 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.