Family Lives on Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
232929922
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Exton, PA, USA
Phone
6104581690
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$218,787
Expenses
$281,655
Assets
$71,189
Liabilities
$3,280

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TONY COSTANZO (PRESIDENT)
  • MIGUEL BAPTISTA (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KELLY BECKER (EXEC DIRECTOR): $59,875 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Family lives on foundation's mission is to support the lifelong emotional well-being of children whose mother or father has died. The death of a parent is one of the most traumatic life events a child can experience. More than two million children and teens in the us are grieving the deaths of their mom or dad. Family lives on foundation's groundbreaking tradition program addresses three critical, and oftentimes unmet, needs in child and family bereavement support. Grieving families need intra-family connection and communication, ongoing support, and continuing emotional bond with their deceased parent. The tradition program provides opportunities for intentional remembering, a safe haven for grief, communication and celebration.

What it reported doing in 2019

The tradition program is grounded in research and supports a number of clinically identified needs in bereaved children. It is a therapeutic tool, allowing the ritual of the tradition to provide structure and route to the chaos of life impaired by loss. Engaging in a ritual assists with mitigating grief and can help restore feelings of control. The tradition program is family-based rather than support group oriented and is directed by the child - truly designed to be child-focused. Traditions encourage children to maintain a continuing and emotional connection with the parent who has died, providing for a more natural context to talk about the person who has died. The practice of the tradition fosters resiliency and post-traumatic growth and engages the child actively in a non-threatening, comfortable environment to help move a child through grief into healing. The average child remains in the program for 7 years, so the longevity and continuity nurtures and sustains family connections throughout the child's development, assisting them to adapt to the death of their parent. Trained volunteers work with children to identify a tradition they shared with their mother or father, and that they want to continue. Volunteers engage the child and family in a child-focused manner. Each eligible child, including multiple siblings in a single family, is encouraged to articulate his or her own tradition. Currently served children have chosen activities such as going to the zoo, movie theater or to visit grandma, baking cookies, muffins and cakes, bake-to-school shopping, and planting flowers. Family lives on then provides the logistics and financial resources for the family and child's annual participation in the requested tradition each year until the child reaches the age of 18.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% 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.
  • 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -28.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10.7% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $226K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2011 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 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.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.