Iron Butterfly Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 923831104
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- McLean, VA, USA
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Media, Communications Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $49,942
- Expenses
- $78,661
- Assets
- $15,006
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
People named in this filing
- Suzanne Wilson Heckenberg (Chairman)
- Cadienne Naquin (Director)
- Megan Jaffer (Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Iron butterfly foundation's mission is to amplify the voices of women and minorities, and to provide the education, community, and resources to women and minorities to lead where they are.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025, iron butterfly foundation reached a major milestone in advancing its mission to amplify the stories of women in intelligence, national security, and public service through the successful completion of the documentary feature film, the power we hold: stories from women spiesthe first feature-length documentary dedicated to the experiences of women in the u.s. Intelligence community. This project represents a cornerstone of the foundations work to expand public understanding, challenge misconceptions, and elevate underrepresented voices through educational storytelling. In parallel with the films completion, the foundation deepened its role as a convener of leaders across national security, public service, and womens advocacy spaces. In 2025, we hosted a private gathering of leaders and changemakers in partnership with girl security, a fellow 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to educating and empowering high school and college-aged girls to pursue pathways in national security. This convening was designed to foster honest, strategic dialogue around shared challenges impacting these communities and to serve as a proactive catalyst for cross-sector collaboration. Through a facilitated, interactive workshop, participants worked collectively to define a shared vision for the future, identify critical gaps and opportunities, and develop actionable frameworks to advance their respective missions. The gathering laid important groundwork for continued collaboration and structural progress beyond individual organizations. In addition, the foundation launched the iron butterfly breakfast series, a recurring community-based program designed to provide a trusted space for women in public service to connect, share experiences, and build community. This initiative was developed in response to evolving changes beginning in early-2025 that impacted many women across these fields, with the goal of supporting resilience, connection, and continued engagement in public service careers. Through these efforts, the foundation continued to build a growing ecosystem of women leaders, strengthen public engagement with critical national security issues, and advance its long-term goal of driving cultural and institutional change through storytelling, education, and community-building.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 100
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 17
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -57.5%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 53.1% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -11.4% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -10.8% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $79K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.