San Francisco Free Clinic

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943186248
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4157509894
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,797,481
Expenses
$2,954,564
Assets
$34,926,520
Liabilities
$164,918

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • IAN J NELLIGAN MD (Executive Dir.): $350,668 total reported compensation
  • Patrick J Lowerre (physician): $218,191 total reported compensation
  • PATRICA HUME (Dir./physician): $182,857 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 provide for free, high quality, comprehensive primary care services to the medically uninsured populations of San Francisco. The Clinic provides a variety of medical and health education, and enabling services to the community.

What it reported doing in 2025

To provide free medical care to the uninsured.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% 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.
  • 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97.4%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: 22.2%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.82; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97.4% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $351K · 15 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $166K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.