Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521974904
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 202-296-5469
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $48,241,563
- Expenses
- $44,742,359
- Assets
- $75,691,984
- Liabilities
- $53,008,565
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
27 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- YOLONDA RICHARDSON (PRESIDENT & CEO, SECRETARY)
Highest reported compensation
- YOLONDA RICHARDSON (PRESIDENT & CEO, SECRETARY): $493,981 total reported compensation
- DANIEL MCGOLDRICK (VP, INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH): $332,315 total reported compensation
- JACQUELINE BOLT (CFO, TREASURER (THRU 12/13/24)): $316,430 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund is to improve health and save lives by reducing tobacco use, the #1 cause of preventable death in the United States and around the world.
What it reported doing in 2024
Global tobacco: managed an international program to support the adoption of strategies to reduce the consumption of tobacco globally; staff manage an international grant program that provides funds to organizations in low and middle-income countries to adopt and implement tobacco control laws, regulations, policies and programs, including tax and price measures, advertising bans, consumer warnings and smoke-free workplaces and public places laws; and provided assistance to grantee and partner organizations in strategy development, campaign implementation, communications and media outreach, policy research and legal drafting and analysis.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 78
- Accountability: 96
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.2%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 93.5%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $182.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Pass
- Conducts site visits: Pass
- Requires grant agreements: Pass
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th 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: 7.3%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.69; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.7; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 4 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 87.2% of revenue deployed · 93.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $41.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $494K · 27 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.6M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 40 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 13 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.