Team Telomere Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263776187
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Missoula, MT, USA
Phone
2082151347
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Birth Defects and Genetic Diseases

Reported finances

Revenue
$674,132
Expenses
$557,863
Assets
$399,894
Liabilities
$9,411

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Katherine Stevens (Executive Director)
  • Allison Kiene (President)
  • Nicole Bjerke (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Katherine Stevens (Executive Director): $130,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

See Schedule O.

What it reported doing in 2025

Team Telomere expanded community support, education, advocacy, and research for the Telomere Biology Disorder community. The organization served 750 individuals and engaged 300 clinicians and researchers across multiple countries. Key accomplishments included hosting 11 Community Chats/Open Forums with 147 registrants, mailing 23 Care Packages and 10 Legacy Boxes, convening at Camp Sunshine with 70 attendees, 9 expert talks, and 20 one-on-one sessions, distributing 163 clinical guidelines, expanding resources with one-pagers, Spanish translations, and video education, launching a digital natural history study with Citizen Health, convening the 2025 Micro Meeting with 121 attendees from 11 countries, and funding research through the Shark Tank Grant, Uplifting Athletes Young Investigator Draft Pick, and Trail Fund Grant.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 62% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.5%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 72%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 47th 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.2%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -12.5% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.5% of revenue deployed · 72% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $402K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.