American Friends of Cancer Research Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
650520985
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Boston, MA, USA
Phone
8573021100
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,513,920
Expenses
$5,016,819
Assets
$5,430,536
Liabilities
$255,476

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CATHRYN DHANATYA (PRESIDENT)
  • DAN BURKWOOD (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • SEBASTIEN LAYE (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $308,050 total reported compensation
  • DAVID MACHON (MANAGING DTR OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS): $195,486 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To support research into the causes and treatment of cancer.

What it reported doing in 2025

Operations and administration related to cancer grand challenges (cgc) and other research initiatives and programs, either led and delivered by cruk or supported by cruk-successfully planned and executed the cancer grand challenges summit in march 2025 in boston, Massachusetts-recruited and onboarded 3 new staff members, enhancing support for partnership development and research and programmatic activities-advanced a collaboration with milken institute to explore innovative finance opportunitiesprocurement and management of philanthropic and partnership support and donor engagement-secured gift from national philanthropic trust (january 2025) in the amount of $1,600,000, which were successfully grant funded to cgc for the support of edynamic project -secured gift from the deborah loeb brice foundation (january 2025) in the amount of $308,000 to support phd studentships at the francis crick institute -secured gift from the deborah loeb brice foundation (april 2025) in the amount of $320,185 to support cancer research at the francis crick institute marketing and communications, events, and engagement -provided leadership with updates regularly to engage management and board with progress towards strategic goals.-continued to develop donor recognition framework and comprehensive gift acknowledgement program.-continued to develop individualized stewardship plan template-drafted donor impact reports

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 74% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 78.8%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Limited
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.1%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 34.8% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 78.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 7 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.