Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 371515680
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Overland Park, KS, US
- Phone
- 913.681.0380
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,481,874
- Expenses
- $5,684,010
- Assets
- $22,432,452
- Liabilities
- $29,274
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CAROLINE GUERIN (PRESIDENT)
- ROBERT RUARK (VICE PRESIDENT (TERM START 10/5/24))
- DEBRA PERSINGER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- DEBRA PERSINGER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $618,466 total reported compensation
- ERIC BUSICK (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $161,316 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
FSMTB supports our members in their work to ensure that the practice of massage therapy is provided to the public safely and competently.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide education, services, and guidance to member boards that help them fulfill their statutory, professional, public, and ethical obligations in the efficient and effective regulation of licensed professionals. Such services facilitate assurance that regulatory boards understand and adhere to their public protection roles and responsibilities in regulating the profession and supports the abilities of government to act on behalf of the public. Improve the standards of massage therapy education, licensure, and practice through cooperation with entities that share the objective, including other massage therapy organizations, accredited agencies, governmental bodies, and groups whose areas of interest may coincide with those of member boards. (continued on schedule o)establishment and reinforcement of such standards. Support common sense state regulations of the profession through legislatively enacted statutes.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 88% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 88
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.4%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 82.8%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.3%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.95; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 70.4% of revenue deployed · 82.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $4.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $618K · 11 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.3M reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 14 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.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.