Jessie Rees Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
451836440
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA
Phone
8886486348
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,887,459
Expenses
$4,571,607
Assets
$3,632,131
Liabilities
$1,087,121

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Erik Rees (President)
  • Layne Lawson (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • See Schedule O: $310,824 total reported compensation
  • Erik Rees (President): $256,120 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission of the Jessie Rees Foundation is to ensure every child and family impacted by childhood cancer has the support to Never Ever Give Up by connecting with their family, bringing awareness to their story, providing them helpful resources and sending them continuous doses of encouragement throughout their journey. In addition, we spread the Never Ever Give up message to all people.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Jessie Rees Foundation's primary programs consist of providing support and encouragement to kids, super sibs, and parents impacted by childhood cancer. The sustained encouragement comes through an array of JoyJars, monthly gifts through Club NEGU (gifts include NEGU PowerPacks, Family Fun Packs, sibling Surprise Boxes, Parent Boost, NEGU Buddies, birthday JoyJars, and an assortment of care cards), and daily video encouragement from celebrities and athletes through a free smart phone app (INEGU). In addition, the Jessie Rees Foundation sends families and caregivers monthly to the House of Hope in La Quinta, California, to rest, have fun, and create lasting memories at no charge; provides financial support during the holidays; and creates special custom memory canvases to families that have lost a child to cancer.To date, the Foundation has assembled and distributed over 500,000 JoyJars plus tens of thousands of other Boosts of Joy to individual homes, children's hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses, and oncology camps across the United States and other countries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.7%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.5%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.7% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 20 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $311K · 21 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 34 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX AllOtherExpenses column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.