National Alopecia Areata Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942780249
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2021
Location
Novato, CA, USA
Phone
4154723780
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,998,061
Expenses
$3,850,182
Assets
$4,739,437
Liabilities
$715,745

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nicole Friedland (President & CEO)
  • Lisa Anderson (Vice President of Research and Education)

Highest reported compensation

  • Nicole Friedland (President & CEO): $352,349 total reported compensation
  • Laura Maciag (Chief Operating Officer): $220,640 total reported compensation
  • Robert Baker III (Chief Growth Officer): $205,741 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

NAAF drives research to find a cure and accessible treatments for alopecia areata, supports those those impacted, and educates the public about the disease.

What it reported doing in 2025

Awareness and support - provided emotional support and medical updates for persons suffering from Alopecia Areata. Services provided include monthly live webinars, a youth mentor program, support groups for parents and people living with alopecia areata, a robust website with resources including but not limited to patient brochures, school advisory toolkit as well as resources for insurance and finding local doctors who treat alopecia areata. Sponsored annual patient conference which featured support sessions, and which was attended by persons from the US and other countries. Walk For Alopecia held in September during Alopecia Areata Awareness month to raise funds and awareness of Alopecia areata. NAAFs Treatment Development programs funded medical research to find safe and effective treatments or cure for alopecia areata.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 72.8%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st 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: 84%; rating input score 84; 29th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.7%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.4%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71% of revenue deployed · 72.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $352K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 7 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.