Free to Breathe

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450505050
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Madison, WI, USA
Phone
6082337905
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cancer

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,961,745
Expenses
$3,180,407
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOAN SCHILLER (PRESIDENT)
  • LORRAINE PASTORE (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JOAN SCHILLER (PRESIDENT)
  • LORRAINE PASTORE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • PETER FRY (TREASURER)

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 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Free to breathe's mission is to ensure surviving lung cancer is the expectation, not the exception.

What it reported doing in 2017

Free to breathe organizes annual conferences to provide forums for internationally renowned clinical experts and community oncologists, nurses, pharmacists, patient advocates, and other healthcare professionals to discuss current and evolving therapies in the screening, diagnosis, and management of patients with lung cancer. Free to breathe co-hosted the focus on lung cancer, patient and caregiver program conference with penn medicine abramson cancer center, with a focus on non-small cell and small cell lung cancer. This free conference was designed for those at risk, newly diagnosed, currently in treatment or survivor on non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, family members, caregivers or healthcare professionals. The conference provided educational presentations regarding diagnosis, treatment, and coping with lung cancer, and information about advancements in research. The conference also provided materials for patients and caregivers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The required major-donor schedule is missing or incomplete and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.5%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -62.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10.9% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2010 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.