Cancer for College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
931144756
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2023
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
7605995096
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Health

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,202,859
Expenses
$3,066,493
Assets
$18,218,988
Liabilities
$392,327

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

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • O CRAIG POLLARD (PRESIDENT/CEO)
  • DAN HUGHES (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • GREG FLORES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • GREG FLORES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $184,008 total reported compensation
  • O CRAIG POLLARD (PRESIDENT/CEO): $34,368 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

At cancer for college, our mission is simple yet profound: to provide hope and inspiration to cancer survivors through academic scholarships, medical debt relief, and educational experiences.

What it reported doing in 2024

Cancer for college provides need-based college scholarships, educational experiences and medical debt relief to cancer survivors. College scholarships: scholars must be attending an accredited college, university or trade school in the united states. Scholars must be a survivor of cancer and have a household income of $150,000 or less. A survivor is determined as someone who has been diagnosed either currently or previously with cancer. Since inception in 1993, cancer for college has awarded more than $7 million and 1,700 scholarships to cancer survivors all across the united states. Each year we award many general, nationwide scholarships as well as several specialty scholarships. Educational experiences: we are committed to empowering our scholars not only through their academic journeys but also beyond. Our educational programs are meant to connect, educate, and enrich the lives of our scholars through personalized curricula designed for their holistic development. Medical debt relief : we also launched a pilot program to address medical debt among our scholarship recipients, reducing scholars' medical debt by over 75%.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 69% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 49.8%; rating input score 50
  • Program expense ratio: 60.9%; rating input score 61
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd 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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 82.2%; rating input score 82; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 27%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.94; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.1%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 49.8% of revenue deployed · 60.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 26 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $184K · 32 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.4M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.