The LAM Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 311438001
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Cincinnati, OH, USA
- Phone
- (513) 777-6889
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,595,985
- Expenses
- $2,019,407
- Assets
- $2,386,726
- Liabilities
- $230,924
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Patti Martin (Executive Dir.): $139,068 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 empower the LAM community and drive research toward better treatments and a cure for lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).
What it reported doing in 2025
Patient Services In September 2025 we hosted a LAMposium which brought 211 patients, family and friends together in collaboration with our LAM clinic directors, liaisons and scientists. We offered 41 virtual events, including LAMposium in Your Living Room webinars, education meetings, and social gatherings. More than 1,000 members of our global community attended our virtual events, and the recordings continue to be watched. More than 300 individuals registered with the Foundation. Eleven Circle of Hope Transplant Support Program participants received lung transplants this year, resulting in more than 54 tissue samples to further LAM research.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 74% for direct work, and 26% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.9%; rating input score 96
- Program expense ratio: 75.6%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 93.7%; rating input score 94; 44th 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: 8 of 8 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -26.5%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 95.9% of revenue deployed · 75.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 30 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.