Emmas Footprints

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
900936227
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Erie, PA, USA
Phone
8144401634
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$426,892
Expenses
$419,170
Assets
$279,260
Liabilities
$835

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • James Hodge (Vice President)
  • Tracy Dailey (President)

People named in this filing

  • Pam Presler (Director)
  • Cicily Shelton (Director)
  • James Hodge (Vice 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

When the unthinkable happens, the loss of a child through miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death, Emmas Footprints is here to walk families through their grief journey. We provide financial support for funeral costs, as well as emotional support through group meetings and one-on- one connections with our Care Team. Our goal is to sustain loss parents and their families through the fog of grief and care for them in every stage of healing and hope after loss.

What it reported doing in 2025

Funeral/burial/headstone costs: We provide financial assistance to families to help ease the financial strain a pregnancy or infant loss can place on them. Our assistance programs help with funeral and memorialization costs, as well as burial and cremation expenses. We have helped cover these costs for nearly 1,000 families to date.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 76.3%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.8%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 76.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $320K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.