Concussion Legacy Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 770689904
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Boston, MA, USA
- Phone
- 8578802084
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,931,570
- Expenses
- $3,928,182
- Assets
- $4,294,311
- Liabilities
- $235,104
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PETER CARFAGNA (PRESIDENT/DIRECTOR)
- JOHN CORCORAN (VICE-PRESIDENT/DIRECTOR)
- CHRISTOPHER NOWINSKI (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER NOWINSKI (CEO): $382,431 total reported compensation
- JULIA MANNING (CHIEF OF STAFF & COMMUNICATIONS): $179,963 total reported compensation
- SAMANTHA CARRIE BUREAU (ADMINISTRATION): $158,125 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The concussion legacy foundation's mission is to support athletes, veterans, and all affected by concussions and cte; achieve smarter sports and safer athletes through education and innovation; and to end cte through prevention and research.
What it reported doing in 2024
Clf educates coaches, parents, athletes, media influencers and policy makers through multiple programs and advocates for concussion and cte prevention and safety. The clf media project trains sports journalism students at 20 universities on how to cover concussions and has trained hundreds of working journalists. To create top-down change, clf leadership serves on advisory boards for multiple sports organizations that set safety policies. Team up against concussion collaborates with youth sports governing bodies to promote concussion awareness.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.5%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.1%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.5% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $382K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.