The Samuel and Barbara Masket Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 463654757
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3109039561
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $520,844
- Expenses
- $513,100
- Assets
- $565,415
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KOKO ABOUNAYAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- SAMUEL MASKET (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- KOKO ABOUNAYAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $137,500 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Everyone has the right to good sight. The masket foundation restores vision for patients who cannot afford complex eye care, trains the next generation of surgeons, and advances ophthalmology through clinical research, innovation, and education.
What it reported doing in 2025
The foundation operates the masket fellows program, anchored by the named heidi green fellowship, a highly competitive post-graduate training program in complex anterior segment surgery co-directed by drs. Samuel masket and nicole fram. Selection identifies candidates who embody the foundations founding values surgical excellence, dedication to teaching and mentorship, and unwavering service to underserved patients reflecting the lifes work of samuel and barbara masket. Under a service-learning model, fellows advance subspecialty skills by performing complex surgery on uninsured and underinsured patients under expert supervision, developing future leaders while extending the foundations charitable reach. For fy2025 the foundation supported outgoing clinical fellow dr. Alice jiang (through june 2025), now practicing at Indiana university health, and hosted incoming clinical fellow dr. Mahsaw mansoor (july 2025 june 2026 cycle).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.
- 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 63
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.1%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 94.5%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $135.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 54.5%; rating input score 55; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 30.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.1% of revenue deployed · 94.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $485K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.