Song for Charlie

Legal name: Song for Charlie Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851362612
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Pasadena, CA, United States
Phone
6266441708
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alcohol, Drug Abuse, Prevention Only

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,059,733
Expenses
$3,903,693
Assets
$1,631,760
Liabilities
$218,240

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EDWARD TERNAN (President)
  • KAILA SASSANO (Vice President)
  • MARY TERNAN (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • EDWARD TERNAN (President): $246,270 total reported compensation
  • KAILA SASSANO (Vice President): $202,293 total reported compensation
  • MARY TERNAN (Vice President): $186,050 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Song for Charlie is a national family-led, nonprofit charity that encourages young people to choose healthy coping strategies over self-medication. We empower students to learn and share knowledge by providing research tools and promoting peer-to-peer learning programs.

What it reported doing in 2025

The organization works with parents, caregivers, middle school, high school, and college students to raise awareness about the dangers inherent in the use and abuse of pharmaceutical and synthethic drugs. Our goal is to warn people about the prevalence of counterfeit prescription pills, which are made of fentanyl and are frequently deadly. The organizations programs will communicate risks via popular media and art film, music, games, graphic arts, etc.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.3%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 96.5%; rating input score 97; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 63.6%; rating input score 64; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.8%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.9%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 42.5% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 39.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 29.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 79.3% of revenue deployed · 82.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $246K · 17 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.1M reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Board meeting minutes documented not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.