Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273778357
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Santa Monica, CA, USA
Phone
3107485646
Rating
52
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Epilepsy

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$494,745
Expenses
$174,403
Assets
$655,055
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NANCY ABRAHAMS (President)

People named in this filing

  • NANCY ABRAHAMS (President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To help cure pediatric epilepsy

What it reported doing in 2025

2025 accomplishments include:1. Involved in 9th Global Symposium on Ketogenic Therapies, Paris, France.2. Attended Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, Nashville, TN.3. Wrote and distributed 4 quarterly newsletters to 16,000 readers4. Continued fundraising for ketogenic related activities.5. Continued support of KetoDietCalculator, online professional calculator for managing medical ketogenic diet therapies6. Maintenance of the Charlie Foundation website and social media for the continuation of ketogenic therapy education resources

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 6
  • Sustainability: 83
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 33.9%; rating input score 34
  • Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 64.7%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.76; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.8% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 33.9% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 1 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $165K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 14 of 15 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.