Bestself Behavioral Health Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
161004090
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone
7168420440
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$82,950,360
Expenses
$85,065,217
Assets
$110,349,256
Liabilities
$103,016,715

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELIZABETH WOIKE (PRESIDENT/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELIZABETH WOIKE (PRESIDENT/CEO): $475,932 total reported compensation
  • JOSEPH C DISTASIO (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $339,698 total reported compensation
  • JENINE PANER-BANSI (DIRECTOR OF ADDICTION MEDICINE): $330,866 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Bestself behavioral health provides innovative, evidence-based, accessible, and family focused behavioral health services to promote health, hope, recovery, and an enhanced quality of life.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ccbhc clinics: bestself behavioral health, inc. Offers outpatient mental health services for children, adults and families by providing evidence-based treatment and medication therapy for a wide range of challenges. Bestself also offers a full spectrum of care for individuals experiencing problems with alcohol or drug use, from counseling and medication-assisted treatment to relapse and prevention training. Additional services at bestself's clinics include crisis intervention, health monitoring, peer services, case management and psychiatric rehabilitation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 65% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 95
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.6%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 82.3%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: -2.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.93; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.6% of revenue deployed · 82.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $70M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $476K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $900K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.