STEM for Her Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
900136831
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2010
Location
Falls Church, VA, USA
Phone
7037942125
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$573,189
Expenses
$690,220
Assets
$366,536
Liabilities
$51,294

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jennifer Fortney (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Yoli Martinez-Nadal (Treasurer)
  • Mahwish Hamlani (Past Chair)
  • Jaye Campbell (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To promote education and to create awareness, excitement, and opportunities among girls and young women to launch successful stem-related careers.

What it reported doing in 2025

General and Other Programs - This includes programs such as the mentor program that gives students the opportunity to learn from mentors in an aligned stem field in one-on-one sessions, small group meetings, and larger workshops designed to help them develop critical professional skills and brainstorming about how to achieve career path goals post-graduation. In addition, we support programs that allows students to be exposed to the stem related field by either bringing programing to schools or facilitates young girls to have other hands-on experience on the stem related topics. Other Programs: Student Advisory Council (SAC) The Student Advisory Council includes high school students who serve as ambassadors, peer leaders, and youth advisors for STEM for Her. Members help guide programming, promote opportunities in their schools, and support key events throughout the year. Exploring Biosciences Opportunities A hands-on STEM for Her workshops that introduces high school students to the world of biotechnology, medicine, and pharmaceutical innovation. Students engage in lab-based simulations, career pathway discussions, and mentorship with professionals in the field. Washington Mystics STEM Day STEM for Her participated in the 2024 Mystics STEM Day at their arena, providing robotics and engineering-based challenges for thousands of attending students. National Book Festival Hosted an interactive exhibit at the Library of Congresss 2024 National Book Festival, where students and families explored programmable Sphero BOLT robots and learned about STEM for Her programs. Mentor Program Connected college women with STEM professionals across the United States through semester-based mentorship experience. STEM Series In-School Programming Delivered multi-session STEM career exposure programs within VA/MD/DC schools, combining classroom visits, hands-on activities, and real-world project challenges. Topics included AI, cybersecurity, and environmental science. International Womens Day STEM STEM for Her hosted an in-person event at Appian Headquarters where students heard from women leaders in science, technology, and engineering, asked questions about career pathways, and worked alongside professionals to develop an app in response to a real-world challenge GEM Hunt A one-day interactive experience where students rotated through hands-on STEM activities and tech challenges led by professionals across multiple fields, designed to spark curiosity and build foundational skills.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.5%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 73.4%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd 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: 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 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -20.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.5% of revenue deployed · 73.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $507K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $349K reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.