The Milestone Foundation
Legal name: The Milestone Charitable Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 811207829
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, US
- Phone
- 716.970.7100
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public, Society Benefit N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $425,204
- Expenses
- $1,056,849
- Assets
- $1,699,973
- Liabilities
- $2,678,696
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RACHEL MCCARTHY (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- RACHEL MCCARTHY (PRESIDENT): $137,749 total reported compensation
- MICHAEL VOLPE (EXECUTIVE DI): $30,925 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 provide fair, ethical, nonprofit consumer litigation funding to plaintiffs, helping families cover expenses without compromising case outcomes.
What it reported doing in 2025
Providing low-interest, non-recourse, financial assistance to individuals in need who are suffering from financial distress during the pendency of litigation as a result of a catastrophic accident.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 76% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 65.3%; rating input score 65
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -148.6%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.61; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.58; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 29.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 65.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $690K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.