Blue Star Families

Legal name: Blue Star Families Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800369895
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Encinitas, CA, US
Phone
(844) 202-7827
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Military, Veterans' Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$41,606,393
Expenses
$23,091,864
Assets
$51,380,592
Liabilities
$1,326,108

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KATHY ROTH-DOUQUET (PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • RYAN CALLAHAN (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL INNOVATIONS)
  • ASHLEY SAVILLE (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT)
  • THOMAS PORTER (VICE PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS)
  • MICHAEL KANG (VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYTICS)
  • SUSAN ANNE MESSINA (VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KATHY ROTH-DOUQUET (PRESIDENT & CEO): $485,418 total reported compensation
  • BRIAN WHITING (CHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER): $373,032 total reported compensation
  • NOELEEN TILLMAN (COO, TREASURER, SECRETARY): $301,788 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To support military and veteran families through research, resources, and a sense of belonging, ensuring they feel confident stepping into their community and that military life is fun.

What it reported doing in 2024

Communities - blue star families, inc. Designs and delivers innovative programs that are geared for the military community. Spouse employment and the bsf careers program supports spouses through their career journey and provides opportunity for military spouses to develop networks and access employment and training resources. Blue star museums offers free admission to more than 2,000 museums across the country from memorial day through labor day each summer. Blue star books on bases donates books to military children, base libraries, department of defense schools, and military-impacted public schools and libraries around the world. Caregivers programming provides ongoing resources to build resiliency and the coping skills necessary to address the rigors of the caregivers' day-to-day lifestyle. Blue star families launched several physical chapters in locations around the country to provide support and resources directly to military families.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 47.4%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $35.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 25th 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: 44.5%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.23; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.7%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.5% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 13 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 47.4% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $19.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $485K · 22 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $498K reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 25 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 15 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.