Bright Spot Network

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
842925337
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Alameda, CA, USA
Phone
6083358650
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cancer

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$662,260
Expenses
$632,287
Assets
$106,550
Liabilities
$104

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Orli Cotel (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Haley Pollack (Executive Dir.): $120,754 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Provide young cancer survivors who are parents of small children with a safe space for individual and familial healing, recovery and reconnection.

What it reported doing in 2025

Bright Spot Network's virtual support groups are peer-facilitated, creating a supportive and welcoming community where parents and partners affected by a cancer diagnosis can share, listen, and connect with others who truly understand their experience. These groups are led by professionals and follow a peer-support format that empowers parents to lead with their own expertise and attend to each other's needs, helping members feel less isolated. We offer groups for parents in active treatment, stage IV, parents of color, survivorship, partners, and bereavement. Bright Spot Network's Kids Connections programming is designed to bring comfort and reduce isolation for children ages 010 who have a parent with cancer, connecting them with peers who truly understand what they're going through. Bright Circle (ages 05) welcomes young children alongside a parent for gentle, connective activities, while Bright Club (ages 510) encourages peer-to-peer interaction through play, sharing, and creative exploration. These groups are grounded in social and emotional learning to help kids build coping skills. Our kids' programming also includes pen pal-style exchanges and other activities that help children stay connected, build friendships, and feel part of a community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 58% for direct work, and 42% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 71
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.8%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.5%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.7% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.8% of revenue deployed · 78.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $495K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $121K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.