National Federation of the Blind of Maryland Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521301033
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Baltimore, MD, USA
Phone
4434264110
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$191,282
Expenses
$191,547
Assets
$601,859
Liabilities
$474

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ronza Othman (President)
  • Deborah Brown (First Vice President)
  • Christopher Danielsen (Second Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Ronza Othman (President)
  • Deborah Brown (First Vice President)
  • Christopher Danielsen (Second Vice President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The NFB of Maryland is an organization made up of blind and sighted people working to improve the lives of blind Maryland residents by providing assistance and services to parents, blind workers, and consumers of rehabilitation services.

What it reported doing in 2025

Program A: Education, Civil Rights, and Self-Organization - Operated community outreach offices to provide information to the public about blindness and how to help blind people and to locate blind persons in need of assistance. Provided assistance to blind people to attend seminars and workshops designed to assist the blind in learning methods and techniques of organizing local groups of blind people for self-help and in learning about library services, rehabilitation services, new technology, aids, devices, and other resources and materials. Developed, produced, or distributed in print, Braille, and/or recorded media materials relating to blindness. Provided information to individuals, employers, governmental agencies, and the general public through written, telephone, personal, and media contacts. Developed and strengthened state and local organizations of the blind (self-help and support groups) and provided legal assistance, encouragement, information, or advocacy assistance to blind persons. Worked to improve services of governmental and private agencies established to give services to the blind through consumer input, technical assistance, and monitoring. It is estimated that educational activities in one way or another impact upon at least one million individuals in this state annually. Such services are available to and benefit all of the blind of this state. Additionally, since improvements for blind persons in this state affect all blind persons in the country, these activities potentially benefit in excess of half a million blind people.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.3%; rating input score 97; 59th 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; 64th 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: -0.1%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.14; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -20.6% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -29.6% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.4% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $159K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 44 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.