Gastric Cancer Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272978173
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Millbrae, CA, USA
Phone
6503021398
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Health

Reported finances

Revenue
$579,280
Expenses
$591,030
Assets
$731,990
Liabilities
$326,556

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STACIE HERSHMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • STACIE HERSHMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $148,721 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The gastric cancer foundation helps patients to face their diagnosis with reliable information, tools to navigate the journey, and a compassionate community that truly understands. The foundation funds research initiatives that contribute to understanding gastric cancer and developing improved methods of prevention, detection and treatment.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education & awareness initiatives: the gastric cancer foundation website (gastriccancer.org) serves as a comprehensive and centralized resource of current, reliable information for gastric cancer patients and their families. Website engagement continued to strengthen in 2025, reaching 44,000 page views from over 18,000 users across 22,000 sessions, reflecting broader reach and more frequent visits. The foundation produces an original video series called the gesundheit kitchen that helps patients cope with the unusual nutritional challenges caused by the disease. In fy 2024-2025, 6 new episodes were produced. We also developed and launched a new video education series called your new normal designed to help highlight key challenges stomach cancer patient face during and after treatment. The foundation offers a free clinical trials navigator service to help patients find open studies that match their diagnosis. In addition the foundation has partnered with another organization to build a safe and secure online community where patients and families provide information and support to each other.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 70% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 72.6%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.45; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -11.4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 72.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $429K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $149K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.