Medicinal Media Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
922125024
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
5129446164
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$716,604
Expenses
$905,944
Assets
$69,816
Liabilities
$2,049

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MELISSA WILSON (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER JEMISON (CREATIVE DIR): $172,640 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Medicinal media is a nonprofit using creative expression and digital storytelling to support mental health. Our programs make emotional wellness more accessible through art, sound, and narrative. In 2024, we served a broad audienceincluding young people and their familiesvia platforms like youtube, instagram, tiktok, and our website. Weekly videos and articles explored themes such as anxiety, identity, self-care, and connection, while pilot initiatives began centering youth voice and intergenerational storytelling as our future focus.

What it reported doing in 2024

Content & campaigns: in 2024, medicinal media produced and shared creative mental health content across multiple platforms, reaching a global audience. This included regular digital posts of articles, art, and videos, and varied documentary development and production, including campaigns centered on somatic mindfulness, mental health-based interviews, and digital therapeutics. Our content was viewed millions of times across our platforms, providing accessible, creative tools for emotional support at scale. Partnerships & collaborations: we partnered with values-aligned organizations such as independent news and production outlets in the frontlines of ukraine; digital therapeutics west and the augmented expo in los angeles, neuroscape labs at ucsf, and nonprofit mental health organizations unlikely collaborators and the hi how are you foundation. These and other collaborations amplified our ability to bring healing-centered storytelling to diverse audiences. Community engagement & growth: medicinal media held a global virtual wellness event with adriene mishler of find what feels good, raising 21,857. Through ticket sales while delivering a live creative wellness practice to participants worldwide. We also advanced our transition toward youth-centered and family mental wellness programming, and grew our subscriber base on social channels by over 100,000.

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 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.3%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 61.9%; rating input score 62
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -26.4%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 104.6% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -33.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -115.2% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.3% of revenue deployed · 61.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $561K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $173K · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $173K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.