Heron's Key
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462710915
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Redmond, WA, USA
- Phone
- 4255568100
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Housing Development, Construction, Management
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $28,843,344
- Expenses
- $26,530,245
- Assets
- $140,587,168
- Liabilities
- $178,295,058
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RONALD D SCHAEFER PRESIDENT (& CEO (AS OF SEPTEMBER 2025))
- AL CHAMBARD (INTERIM CEO (THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2025))
Highest reported compensation
- LISA HARDY CHIEF (STRATEGY OFFICER (THROUGH MAY 2025)): $507,703 total reported compensation
- DENISA FEDDERSEN (CFO): $359,627 total reported compensation
- RONALD D SCHAEFER PRESIDENT (& CEO (AS OF SEPTEMBER 2025)): $309,226 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Heron's key is a not-for-profit non-denominational life plan retirement community providing a continuum of living accommodations, supportive services, and health care for residents 55 years of age and older. (continued in schedule o)as a life plan retirement community in gig harbor, the organization offers a wide range of quality programs, services, and facilities to meet the health, social, spiritual, and intellectual needs of its residents and to serve the broader community. Heron's key is operated to fulfill its mission of service while remaining true to its core values of integrity, stewardship, empowerment, faith, change, and choice. The association's board of directors is comprised of local community members and heron's key residents, all dedicated to the mission of heron's key and to ensure it continues to maintain its high standards of excellence and remains financially sound.
What it reported doing in 2025
Heron's key provides safe and secure senior housing and services to approximately 307 independent living residents in the organization's 194 apartments. The organization provides many support services, including meal services provided in a central dining room, fitness and exercise classes, equipment, an on-site clinic, wellness programs, social programs, a wide variety of resident activities, both on site and other locations, and transportation to medical appointments and grocery stores, banks, and special activities. All life plan residents have unlimited access to assisted living and skilled nursing health care. (continued in schedule o)heron's key was financed with bonds issued by the Washington state housing finance commission. As a type a facility in the state of Washington, no resident of heron's key may utilize tax-payer funded public assistance programs such as medicaid. Heron's key provides financial assistance to residents who, for reasons beyond their control, become unable to pay their monthly service fees. As a not-for-profit, mission-driven organization, revenues generated in excess of expenses are invested and held as reserves to ensure all current and future contractual obligations can be fully met, to replace facility and program assets as needed, and to allow prudent expansion of the mission. Heron's key provides opportunities for residents and staff to interact within the heron's key community, the greater gig harbor community and beyond by establishing close ties with community facilities such as gig harbor chamber of commerce, and by developing community outreach programs consistent with its mission. Heron's key recruits, develops and retains competent and caring staff who share the organization's principles, values and standards by maintaining open communication and stressing team work that builds up the spirit of community, and developing standards of performance for evaluation based on position descriptions, and providing fair, competitive compensation and benefits.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 90% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and assets have declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 56
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.4%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 75.7%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 25th 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; 64th 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: 8%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.3; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.27; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.6%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.4% of revenue deployed · 75.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $20.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $508K · 21 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.6M reported
- Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.