Reel Medicine Media

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921848817
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
7074005628
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$726,974
Expenses
$440,826
Assets
$432,277
Liabilities
$22,618

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Catherine King (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Catherine King (Executive Director): $132,902 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Reel Medicine Medias mission is to ensure that everyone has access to the most compassionate healthcare possible. We firmly believe in the transformative power of storytelling to spark a movement towards humanistic and equitable healthcare. Our goal is to inspire meaningful conversations move hearts and minds and change the way we die in America. To fulfill this mission we create documentary films impact programs and film-based education.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Chaplain & The Doctor is a feature documentary film and national impact campaign designed to spark dialogue and drive change addressing bias and inequity in the healthcare system. The film follows the 15-year relationship between ICU and Palliative Care physician Dr. Jessica Zitter and hospital Chaplain Betty Clark exploring how spirituality interprofessional collaboration and human connection can transform care for seriously ill patients.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 44.2%; rating input score 44
  • Program expense ratio: 72.7%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 39.4%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -9.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 41.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 44.2% of revenue deployed · 72.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $321K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $133K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.