Tears Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450500497
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Puyallup, WA, USA
Phone
2532000944
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$408,980
Expenses
$585,011
Assets
$267,862
Liabilities
$217,512

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SARAH SLACK (PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIREC)

Highest reported compensation

  • SARAH SLACK (PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIREC): $115,000 total reported compensation
  • ALLEN SHUH (DIRECTOR): $25,920 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 compassionately assist bereaved parents with emotional support and financial assistance for funeral expenses when their precious child dies.

What it reported doing in 2025

The tears foundation offers free support groups individual peer companions memorial events and onsite bereavement centers with resources for the community and bereaved families who have experienced the death of a child. Nine bereavement centers offered onsite support community awareness and training for professionals. Over 10,000 individuals have received support through these services in 2023.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.5%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 57%; rating input score 57
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 70.9%; rating input score 71; 49th 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -43%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.81; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.1%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.5% of revenue deployed · 57% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $333K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 45 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Program expense ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Travel column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.