Vitalyst Health Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 860097240
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ, US
- Phone
- (602) 385-6500
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Health Systems
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $37,155,675
- Expenses
- $6,694,702
- Assets
- $148,356,332
- Liabilities
- $3,474,629
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SUZANNE PFISTER (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- SUZANNE PFISTER (CEO): $375,289 total reported compensation
- ROY PRINGLE (COO): $272,802 total reported compensation
- DAVID MARTINEZ (DIRECTOR): $148,290 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To advance health equity across Arizona.
What it reported doing in 2024
Contributions (grants) to health care related organizations: vitalyst provides grants to community organizations through the following tiered grant processes: spark grants are planning grants to support collaborations in their initial journey to address systemic change and are funded for one year at $10,000 to $25,000.systems change grants are the second-tier larger grants investing in catalytic collaborative work that transforms systems to improve the health of our communities. Systems change grants are between $150,000 to $175,000 over three years. The primary goal of both processes is to support collaborative projects that are improving the health of arizonans by making systems more effective, equitable, and sustainable.vitalyst also makes targeted investments that advance its current initiatives through compiling and disaggregating data to inform statewide policy decisions. This includes supporting outreach and enrollment into the health insurance marketplace, ahcccs (Arizona's medicaid program) and the children's health insurance program (chip). As data continues to demonstrate the significant impact of social determinants on health outcomes, vitalyst has grown its work in healthy communities including dedicated investments to support affordable quality housing, equitable food systems, and building social and cultural cohesion through civic health.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Investment-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
- 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. Reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 86
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- 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: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 28th 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: 82%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 22.16; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $375K · 25 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 94 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 87 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: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.