National Headache Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237073022
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
8886435552
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,406,193
Expenses
$1,661,730
Assets
$5,672,133
Liabilities
$672,477

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • VINCENT MARTIN MD (PRESIDENT)
  • EMILY KANDEL (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MERLE DIAMOND MD (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SUSAN STONE (CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SUSAN STONE (CEO & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $195,000 total reported compensation
  • MAUREEN BALLAY (AVP - FINANCE, OPERATIONS): $113,696 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The national headache foundation (nhf) aims to create a future where everyone in the world with headache can thrive in optimal, functional and connected lives. Support is aligned to three pillars: (1) resilient and functional living, (2) medical understanding and advancements, (3) community-centered insights and empowered engagement. Nhf's nationwide programs promote greater public awareness, education, and advocacy of headache medicine throughout the continuum of experiences from diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment. These programs support patients, care partners, healthcare practitioners, payers, and policymakers by integrating various channels like websites, mobile app, social media, email, and in person to create a unified and personalized journey for all they serve.

What it reported doing in 2024

Nhf focuses on the following patient programs and initiatives:-action4access: provides a comprehensive advocacy navigation guide to access care and treatment. There are four main educational areas of focus: patient assistance, insurance and pharmacy coverage, healthcare policy, and empowering patients and care partners in making informed decisions. -operation brainstorm: provides advocacy support, resources and education for veterans and their families living with headache disorders and migraine disease. To empower the military community with the knowledge and skills needed to actively participate in decisions about their headache care whether navigating within the va, tricare, and/or champva, at home and/or within their communities. Becoming a strong self-advocate and creating a partnership with healthcare providers to co-create the care/treatment plan aligned with personal goals and preferences. -migraine university: provides advocacy tips and tools for successfully navigating college with a headache disorder. Education and support around accommodations, understanding triggers, headache types, tracking your headache, finding a provider, and financial assistance. This information also extends to providing educational support to on-campus administrators, instructors and health center professionals.-public awareness & education programs: to educate the public that headaches and migraines are legitimate neurobiological diseases. And that there are options and treatments available to them. These programs include the following:1) living with migraine: a series of informative videos for people living with migraine and headache disorders. The videos address lifestyle changes, diet, avoiding triggers, talking with your healthcare provider, and the many treatment options available.2) nhf on the job: an online workplace wellness program that helps employees and their managers understand migraine disease. The nhf program can reduce both the incidents of migraine as well as lost workdays and reduced productivity due to migraine disease.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 70.8%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: -18.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.41; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.6%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 70.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $195K · 19 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 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
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.