National Council for Adoption

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
751721671
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2021
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Phone
7032996633
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,709,179
Expenses
$1,527,685
Assets
$2,556,294
Liabilities
$393,425

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ryan Hanlon (President & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ryan Hanlon (President & CEO): $194,111 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Passionately committed to the belief that every child deserves to thrive in a nurturing, permanent family. National Council for Adoption's mission is to meet the diverse needs of children, expectant parents, birth parents, adopted individuals, adoptive families, and all those touched by adoption through global advocacy, education, research, legislative action, and collaboration.

What it reported doing in 2024

Adoption-Sensitive Clinical Care project - This grant program is designed to help hospital-based staff understand and support the complex needs of expectant parents facing unintended pregnancies as well as those in the process of making an adoption plan for their child. With the guidance of a national advisory committee and the oversight of the federal Children's Bureau, the project team has updated and delivered the Understanding Infant Adoption curriculum online in the first of four different training lengths, as well as developed recommendations for three shorter training lengths, all of which will confer continuing medical education and social work continuing education credits for those who complete the training. The project team has updated and received federal approval to deliver six supplemental deep-dives into adoption-related topics and drafted two new supplemental modules. Data is being collected throughout the project to measure its effectiveness.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.2%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 71.9%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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 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: 10.6%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.67; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.2% of revenue deployed · 71.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $194K · 20 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $116K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.