Spare Key
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 411888767
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- St Paul, MN, USA
- Phone
- 9524068872
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $946,155
- Expenses
- $878,672
- Assets
- $947,885
- Liabilities
- $21,937
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CARL KUHL (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SARAH ROCKLITZ (EXECUTIVE DI): $110,553 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Spare key's mission is to provide assistance to families with a critically ill or seriously injured family member. No matter the illness, no matter the injury, no matter the income. We help families "bounce and not break" through our help me bounce platform, harnessing the power of crowdfunding to connect thousands of families directly to donors. We are committed to helping families stay by their loved one's side by relieving the stress, anxiety and financial burden that comes with a medical crisis.
What it reported doing in 2025
Spare keys mission is to provide assistance to families with a critically ill or seriously injured family member. No matter the illness, no matter the injury, no matter the income. We help families bounce and not break through our help me bounce platform, harnessing the power of crowdfunding to connect thousands of families directly to donors. We are committed to helping families stay by their loved ones side by relieving the stress, anxiety and financial burden that comes with a medical crisis.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.
- 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.6%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $775K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 21 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 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.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.