Northern Hope Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 472366390
IRS 990 coverage: 2020–2024
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: Fairbanks, AK, USA
Phone: 9074564610
Rating: 73
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Mental Health Disorders

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $780,859
Expenses: $704,040
Assets: $197,650
Liabilities: $47,088

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

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

Karen Blackburn (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

Karen Blackburn (Executive Director): $129,396 total reported compensation
WILLIAM GADDIS (CLINICAL DIRECTOR): $100,000 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 mission of the Northern Hope Center (NHC) is to provide adults with serious mental illness relief from isolation and stigma. The center provides a member-driven, member-run, comfortable and safe place. NHC promotes empowerment by providing opportunities free from the stress, guilt, shame, and demands of society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Northern Hope Center's Member Services program provides targeted financial and practical support to help members meet daily needs, reduce crises, and stay engaged in services. The program is designed to remove immediate barriers, allowing members to focus on recovery, housing, and employment. Assistance may include groceries, household items, personal hygiene and cleaning products, partial support for rent, deposits, and past-due utilities, as well as limited help with medical-related costs such as co-pays and pharmacy items. Member Services also supports transportation through taxi vouchers and other rides for medical appointments, job interviews, housing appointments, and essential errands. Laundry tokens, clothing, and limited gift cards for groceries, gas, or essential retail are provided when needed. Support is based on clear criteria and documented need, and staff work with each person to connect this assistance to simple, concrete goals such as keeping appointments, completing applications, or starting a new job.

Operating model

Revenue model: Grant-funded. 98% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model: Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 83
Transparency & Controls: 85
Accountability: 37
Sustainability: 37
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 90.2%; rating input score 90
Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: Limited
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: Limited
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Limited
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: 9.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 32.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 90.2% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $704K in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 2 people listed
Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.