National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Legal name: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521328557
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Alexandria, VA, US
Phone
1-800-THE-LOST
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$66,813,108
Expenses
$62,756,502
Assets
$107,288,189
Liabilities
$23,632,843

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

Leadership & pay

42 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Michelle DeLaune (Pres/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michelle DeLaune (Pres/CEO): $548,662 total reported compensation
  • Panayiota Souras (Asst. Secty, CLO): $317,549 total reported compensation
  • Paul Beriault (Asst. Treas.SVP,CFO): $311,605 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 help find missing children, stop child sexual exploitation and prevent child victimization.

What it reported doing in 2025

The ncmec content & community engagement division coordinates with all ncmec divisions to operate our portfolio of outreach, training, and prevention resources, programs, and materials to increase awareness of missing and exploited child issues as well as promote skill building and evidence-based practices for response and recovery. This division is responsible for ncmec connect, our online learning management system supporting virtual training courses and in-person learning opportunities to law enforcement, social services, and other child-serving professionals. This division also partners with national nonprofit organizations, law enforcement agencies, and businesses to organize community events, conferences, webinars, and other presentations, such as the code adam program promoting safety protocols within retail establishments, to amplify prevention and educational resources on child safety at no-cost to participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 77% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.1%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.71; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 92.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $57.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $549K · 42 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.9M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.