National Council on Family Relations

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
410762436
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2024
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
7632312886
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,354,776
Expenses
$2,835,942
Assets
$4,746,120
Liabilities
$758,436

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Debra Berke (President)
  • Bethany Letiecq (President (until 11/25))
  • Pamela Blake Payne (President Elect)
  • Cherie Collins Sims (Executive Director)
  • Kevin Lynch (Interim Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Cherie Collins Sims (Executive Director): $152,241 total reported compensation
  • David Schmidt (Director of Finance): $140,399 total reported compensation
  • Kevin Lynch (Interim Executive Director): $129,520 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

NCFR's mission is to ensure that researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers are positioned to promote the thriving of every family.

What it reported doing in 2025

Information dissemination: NCFR published five issues of its flagship scholarly journal, Journal of Marriage, and Family, five issues of its journal Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science and four issues of its Journal of Family Theory & Review in 2025. A total of 283 articles were published. The journal issues were provided to 2,303 active members in 2025. NCFR journal articles reached readers in 217 countries with around 1.4 million views across the three journals. NCFR created and published two policy briefs in 2025, titled Promoting Positive Coparenting: Toward Comprehensive and Inclusive Family Policies and Improving States' Infant and Family Health Equity Through Equitable Housing Policies. The briefs were disseminated to state policymakers and NCFR members who are encouraged to share with others. The NCFR website provides curated resources to disseminate NCFR's policy-related activities, and a description of NCFR's policy-related activities. A new bi-weekly segment was launched in 2025, called NCFR Policy Corner. This segment is dedicated to keeping the NCFR community informed, engaged, and connected around key policy and advocacy issues affecting families and Family Science.NCFR published four issues each of its NCFR Report member magazine, and NCFR Nexus newsletter, which contain educational articles and resources for members and CFLEs pertaining to their professional interest areas. NCFR's weekly email newsletter "Zippy News" provides announcements about educational and professional opportunities in the family field.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.2%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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: 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: -20.4%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.67; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.9%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.2% of revenue deployed · 75.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $152K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.