Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
946064808
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-PF 2013, Form 990-T 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
6508549400
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Private Independent Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$32,391,992
Expenses
$74,774,656
Assets
$768,899,607
Liabilities
$150,270,410

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DREW ALTMAN (TRUSTEE, PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • MOLLYANN BRODIE (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & COO)
  • LAWRENCE LEVITT EXECUTIVE (VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEALTH POLICY)
  • ANN DEFABIO (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & CCO)
  • IRVING WASHINGTON III SENIOR (VICE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DREW ALTMAN (TRUSTEE, PRESIDENT & CEO): $1,123,905 total reported compensation
  • MOLLYANN BRODIE (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & COO): $634,305 total reported compensation
  • LAWRENCE LEVITT EXECUTIVE (VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEALTH POLICY): $617,541 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See schedule o.kff fills the need for trusted, independent information on national health issues through policy analysis, polling & survey research, and journalism. The hallmark of kff is our focus on how policy affects people. We believe in the importance of evidence, information and facts. We provide a voice for people who don't always have a seat at the table. We never try to achieve any particular policy, or take positions or advocate for policies or programs. We want to ensure that debate is informed by credible and timely information - whether it's a policy analysis, a poll, or a kff health news story or investigation.

What it reported doing in 2024

Social impact media - we develop and help run large-scale, public health information campaigns in the u.s. By working with major media, other corporate allies, health departments, national leadership and community organizations. These large-scale, multi-faceted public information partnerships focus mostly at reaching people most at risk of HIV and currently focus on the south under the umbrella name greater than AIDS. The health misinformation and trust initiative - in late fall 2022, kff began to develop this new program to identify and address misinformation and disinformation in health. Kff makes no programmatic grants. Grants consist of trustee special project grants and matching gifts, which qualify as grants, and are listed on schedule i.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 82.8%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th 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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 80.8%; rating input score 81; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -130.8%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.28; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.9% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $61.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.1M · 19 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.5M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 267 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 35 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.

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.