Raising Hope for A Cure

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
333172572
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Owatonna, MN, USA
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Reported finances

Revenue
$128,455
Expenses
$125,945
Assets
$144,200
Liabilities
$139,690

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Marc G Smith (Secretary)
  • Patricia J Solheid (Vice Chair and Treasurer)
  • Julie A Smith (Chair)

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

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

Overview

Mission

The purpose of this corporation is: *** [1] To raise public awareness and to raise medical research funding for specific debilitating diseases through public fundraising events. Our primary focus has been on two diseases: ALS amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and FTD fronto-temporal degeneration. *** [2] To donate all funds raised from the public fundraising events after expenses to qualified 501c3 organizations that are either conducting or sponsoring medical research to find new treatments and cures for the diseases ALS and FTD.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our organization had another successful year raising awareness of ALS and FTD in our community and our fundraising efforts brought in a total of $142,200: from donations and contributions collected thoughout the year and from our Hops For Hope fundraiser Walkin For Whitey fundraiser and a 50 50 raffle in September. Over 300 individuals or businesses made contributions and over 600 people attended one or both fundraiser events. After paying expenses our organization was able to make substantial donations grants of restricted funds totaling $123,695 to support promising medical research efforts to find new treatments and cures for ALS and FTD. Specifically there were grants of $80,550 and $10,645 to the ALS Association ALSA and a grant of $32,500 to the Association for FTD AFTD designated for vetted medical research programs sponsored by those national organizations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.14; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.97; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $140K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Part III program expenses within total did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.