Parkinson's Foundation

Legal name: Parkinson's Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131866796
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Miami, FL, USA
Phone
1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636)
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Specifically Named Diseases Research

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$84,182,191
Expenses
$69,042,600
Assets
$62,655,346
Liabilities
$14,371,288

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

Leadership & pay

40 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN L LEHR (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN L LEHR (PRESIDENT & CEO): $638,450 total reported compensation
  • MERI MARGARET DEOUDES (SVP, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (THRU 09/2024)): $329,241 total reported compensation
  • KAYLN HENKEL (EVP, CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER): $325,481 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 Parkinson's Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson's disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure.

What it reported doing in 2024

Pillar 3 - educating and empowering the parkinson's community: we provide a variety of in-person and virtual resources, helping everyone live better with parkinson's. The foundation is the first organization to form a parkinson's advisory council and the first to train people with pd to partner with scientists on research. We help people live well with pd by providing free resources, including an interactive virtual series, pd health @ home, which features events focused on wellness, exercise and mental health, a newly diagnosed guide designed to help people with parkinson's and their loved ones get started on their pd journey and a toll-free helpline staffed by parkinson's specialists who answer questions in english and spanish on nearly 25,000 calls annually. We also fund community grants annually to support programs that further the health, wellness and education of people with parkinson's disease in local communities across the u.s. We bring local communities together through moving day, a walk for parkinson's. This national grassroots event has raised $50.2 million since inception to support parkinson's research and local wellness programs across the country.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 69% for direct work, and 31% for grants.
  • 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 95%; rating input score 95; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.5%; rating input score 100; 41st 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; 77th 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: 18%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 10 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.2% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $59M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $638K · 40 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.8M reported
  • Consistency: 46 of 47 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 261 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 247 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.