Gapps

Legal name: GAPPS Global Alliance To Prevent Prematurity And Stillbirth

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814625437
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2023
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
Lynnwood, WA, USA
Phone
2064137954
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Service Clubs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$265,582
Expenses
$728,526
Assets
$513,458
Liabilities
$163,458

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Shelley London (Treasurer): $24,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

GAPPS strives to reduce the burden of preterm birth and stillbirth by advancing collaborative research to identify, develop and implement evidence-based solutions. The Sellen Community Foundation donates to Seattle Children’s to expand research in prematurity. This funding was pivotal in supporting the creation of GAPPS and allowed us to begin working on our mission to understand and prevent prematurity and stillbirths. 2007. GAPPS BioServices was founded in 2009 to serve the urgent need for biological specimens to support research on complications in pregnancy. GAPPS offers full service biospecimen management including biospecimen procurement and management, sample storage and tracking, and molecular analyte extraction. Comprehensive quality control and quality assurance systems are built into every component of our operations. GAPPS has harnessed its expertise in collection and...

What it reported doing in 2023

GAPPS Bioservices was founded in 2009 to serve the urgent need for biological specimens to support research on complications in pregnancy. GAPPS offers full service biospecimen management including biospecimen procurement and management, sample storage and tracking, and molecular analyte extraction. Comprehensive quality control and quality assurance systems are built into every component of our operations. GAPPS has harnessed its expertise in collection and storage of a wide variety of sample types and their derivatives to provide investigators with high quality data and biospecimens to support translational research around the world, including research on normal and abnormal pregnancies, how pregnancy affects maternal and child health after delivery, and fetal origins of diseases.GAPPS Bioservices operates a widely-accessible biobank of standardized, high-quality specimens linked to data from diverse populations of pregnant women and their babies. The collection includes contributions from women representing a range of racial, ethnic, regional and socioeconomic backgrounds. In the United States, GAPPS has recruited and followed the pregnancies of over 2,500 women, collecting extensive demographic and medical data linked to over 136,000 banked specimens. Over 30,000 of these have been distributed to researchers to study the causes of pregnancy complications, and ultimately to develop interventions to save the lives of mothers and babies

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 45.6%; rating input score 46
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st 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: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -174.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -10.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -16.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 45.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $332K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $24K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Program expense ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.