Vitae Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
431138252
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Jefferson City, MO, USA
Phone
5736344316
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,331,609
Expenses
$3,490,427
Assets
$2,244,997
Liabilities
$276,349

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRANDY MEEKS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BRANDY MEEKS (PRESIDENT): $137,215 total reported compensation
  • CARL LANDWEHR (FOUNDER/STRATEGIC ADVISOR): $87,537 total reported compensation
  • DEBORAH STOKES (SR STRATEGIC ADVISOR): $73,310 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We encourage a culture of life through research based messaging and mass media.

What it reported doing in 2025

Vitae builds a culture of life through its cooperative efforts with other pro-life organizations and staff interaction with individuals, companies, and institutions. Cooperative efforts include sharing research findings with pro-life peers and subsidizing digital outreach and program materials for pregnancy help centers. Additional efforts take place through national training initiatives and online collection of resources. Vitae's educational program activities reach a broad spectrum as they touch pregnancy center staff; women and communities served by the centers; and the pro-life peer groups impacted by vitae's research. These efforts help expand the pro-life knowledge base of a worldwide population.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 76.6%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 89.2%; rating input score 89; 31st 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; 63rd 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: -4.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 76.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $137K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.