Precede Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851199264
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Red Hook, NY, USA
Phone
9412637968
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,062,871
Expenses
$1,886,658
Assets
$749,645
Liabilities
$14,298

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ron Horvat (Former CEO)
  • Margaret Caspler (President & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Debbie Brandel (COO): $176,100 total reported compensation
  • Ron Horvat (Former CEO): $95,184 total reported compensation
  • Margaret Caspler (President & CEO): $29,323 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To support the efforts of the pancreatic cancer early detection program consortium. The consortium is an internatioanl collaborative effort, currently comprised of 35 hospitals and educational institutions, designed to transfer the landscape of pancreatic cancer risk assessment, early detetction and prevention.

What it reported doing in 2025

The PRECEDE Foundation supports the work being done by 65 academic medical centers around the world that are collaborating on early detection for pancreatic cancer.The Expenses associated with the program include operating a central data repository. PRECEDE Foundation contracts with an outside vendor that specializes in this activity - Arbor Research. Arbor is headquartered in Michigan and is reponsible for onboarding new medical centers, monitoring data completeness and quality, providing analytic support, managing the study IRB, and managing the data registry. Total 2025 expenses for Arbor Research were $605,407.The other major expense is for the Biospecimen repository which receives and stores blood samples for study participants who are part of industry sponsor studies seeking to validate new biomarker assays for pancreatic cancer. PRECEDE Foundation contracts with Azenta Life Sciences to function as the PRECEDE Biorespository. Total 2025 expenses for Azenta were $99,674.PRECEDE Foundation also supports the work being done at each medical center in support of the study. This includes the cost of a research coordinator at each site, the use of a genetic counselor to enroll, consent and screen participants and a data analyst to enter clinical and demographic data for each participant. Total payments to sites in 2025 were $124,170.To-Date program outcomes include:1) conducting a prospective, longitudial clinical validation study for ClearNote Health's early detection blood test - Avantect.2) working with Immunovia to design, devvelop and implement their clinical validation study for the PancreaSure test.3) working with BT Genomics/Singlera on the design of the clinical validation study for the BT Reveal Early Pancreatic Cancer test.4) we have already identified 42 cased of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, 36 of which have early stage disease with an 87% 5-year survival rate. We have also detected 155 other cancers at various stages.5) we hosted an annual meeting with 175 of the principal investigators, other researchers and industry experts to exchange information, review progress, address new developments and design new areas of study to achieve the goal of early detection and a 50% survival rate for pancreatic cancer.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.9%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 8.5%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.9%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 59.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 48.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 34.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.9% of revenue deployed · 81.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $176K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $605K reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.