Joyful Heart Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 721519537
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY, United States
- Phone
- 212-475-2026
- Rating
- 65
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Children's, Youth Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,678,293
- Expenses
- $2,011,307
- Assets
- $8,205,059
- Liabilities
- $114,175
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARISKA HARGITAY (FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT)
- ROBYN MAZUR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- LESLIE HEWITT (CFO): $240,995 total reported compensation
- ROBYN MAZUR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $240,375 total reported compensation
- ILSE KNECHT (DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY): $177,826 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To transform society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, and to support survivors on their journeys to healing and justice.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2024, joyful heart launched the image-based abuse policy initiative that seeks to use legislative tools, awareness campaigns and advocacy to establish a framework for addressing online exploitation and supporting those affected. The initiative operates on the fundamental principle that everyone deserves autonomy over their body and image as one of the leading organizations on policy reform against image-based abuse (iba), joyful heart convened regular meetings with two stakeholder groups one for federal policy and one for state to share information and work collectively to develop policies protecting survivors. In addition, staff monitored relevant policy progress and distributed legislative updates to advocates in the field. In 2024, 44 iba bills passed in 30 states. In addition to the state-level bills, joyful heart advocated for multiple bills at the federal level, including the shield act, the defiance act, the take it down act, and the preventing deepfakes of intimate images act.in addition, as part of our flagship policy program, the end the backlog campaign, joyful heart helped pass nine bills related to rape kit reform in eight states. Most notably, New Jersey enacted a bill granting survivors the right to know the status and location of their kit and Pennsylvania passed a tracking bill four years in the making, joining the list of full reform states. In addition to our rape kit backlog work, we advocated for multiple bills resulting in seven states either extending or eliminating statutes of limitations in sexual assault cases, and five states improving access to victim compensation.as part of joyful heart's efforts to raise awareness about policy issues, we organized a virtual summit on iba, spoke at a panel at the un csw, participated in the vawa 30th year celebration events in dc; organized a summit on drug facilitated sexual assault for manhattan-based criminal justice professionals, presented our work and expertise to a variety of groups; spoke at the nyc sexual violence response conference, and co-organized a survivors' convening on iba.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 48
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 78
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 33.5%; rating input score 33
- Program expense ratio: 72.1%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 57%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.08; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 32.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -11% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 33.5% of revenue deployed · 72.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $241K · 25 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $277K reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 33/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.