Breast Cancer Alliance
Diseases, Disorders, and Disciplines | EIN: 06-1453500 | Greenwich CT
Mission: The mission of the Breast Cancer Alliance is to improve survival rates and quality of life for those impacted by breast cancer through better prevention, early detec ... (More)
Breast Cancer Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization, with an IRS ruling year of 1998, and donations are tax-deductible.
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Star Rating System by Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator evaluates a nonprofit organization’s financial health including measures of stability, efficiency and sustainability. We also track accountability and transparency policies to ensure the good governance and integrity of the organization.
Exceptional
This charity's score is 92.26, earning it a 4-Star rating. Donors can "Give with Confidence" to this charity.
This score is calculated from two sub-scores:
Finance: 89.82 View details
Accountability & Transparency: 96.00 View details
This score represents Form 990 data from 2019. More recent filing data is available, but it has not been factored into this score, due to COVID-19's effect on this organization.
View this organization’s historical ratings.
Rating update postponed due to COVID-19's impact on this organization. View Breast Cancer Alliance's response.
Star Rated Report
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Program Expense Ratio
81.7%
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s).
This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. Dividing a charity's average program expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Administrative Expenses
10.1%
As reported by charities on their IRS Form 990, this measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on overhead, administrative staff and associated costs, and organizational meetings. Dividing a charity's average administrative expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Fundraising Expenses
8.0%
This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. Fundraising expenses can include campaign printing, publicity, mailing, and staffing and costs incurred in soliciting donations, memberships, and grants. Dividing a charity's average fundraising expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Liabilities to Assets Ratio
39.9%
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990).
Part of our goal in rating the financial performance of charities is to help donors assess the financial capacity and sustainability of a charity. As do organizations in other sectors, charities must be mindful of their management of total liabilites in relation to their total assets. This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and or long term sustainability. Dividing a charity's total liabilities by its total assets yields this percentage.
Source: IRS Form 990
Fundraising Efficiency
$0.06
The amount spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. We calculate the charity's average expenses and average contributions over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Working Capital Ratio
0.60 years
Determines how long a charity could sustain its level of spending using its net available assets, or working capital, as reported on its most recently filed Form 990. We include in a charity's working capital unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets, and exclude permanently restricted net assets. Dividing these net available assets in the most recent year by a charity's average total expenses, yields the working capital ratio. We calculate the charity's average total expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Program Expense Growth
7.27%
We compute the average annual growth of program expenses using the following formula: [(Yn/Y0)(1/n)]-1, where Y0 is a charity's program expenses in the first year of the interval analyzed, Yn is the charity's program expenses in the most recent year, and n is the interval of years passed between Y0 and Yn.
Source: IRS Form 990
Governance
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has these governance practices in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990
| Governance: | |
|---|---|
| Independent Voting Board Members ... (More) | |
| No Material Diversion of Assets ... (More) A diversion of assets – any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft – can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We check the charity's last two Forms 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets. If the charity does report a diversion, then we check to see if it complied with the Form 990 instructions by describing what happened and its corrective action. This metric will be assigned to one of the following categories:
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| Audited Financials Prepared by Independent Accountant ... (More) Audited financial statements provide important information about financial accountability and accuracy. They should be prepared by an independent accountant with oversight from an audit committee. (It is not necessary that the audit committee be a separate committee. Often at smaller charities, it falls within the responsibilities of the finance committee or the executive committee.) The committee provides an important oversight layer between the management of the organization, which is responsible for the financial information reported, and the independent accountant, who reviews the financials and issues an opinion based on its findings. We check the charity's Form 990 reporting to see if it meets this criteria.
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| Does Not Provide Loan(s) to or Receive Loan(s) From Related Parties ... (More) | |
| Documents Board Meeting Minutes ... (More) | |
| Distributes 990 to Board Before Filing ... (More) | |
| Compensates Board ... (More) |
Policies
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization has these policies in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
| Policies: | |
|---|---|
| Conflict of Interest ... (More) | |
| Whistleblower ... (More) | |
| Records Retention and Destruction ... (More) | |
| CEO Compensation Process ... (More) | |
| Donor Privacy ... (More) Donors have expressed extreme concern about the use of their personal information by charities and the desire to have this information kept confidential. The exchanging and sale of lists for telemarketing and the mass distribution of "junk mail," among other things, can be minimized if the charity assures the privacy of its donors. Privacy policies are assigned to one of the following categories:
The privacy policy must be specific to donor information. A general website policy which references "visitor" or "user" personal information will not suffice. A policy that refers to donor information collected on the website is also not sufficient as the policy must be comprehensive and applicable to both online and offline donors. The existence of a privacy policy of any type does not prohibit the charity itself from contacting the donor for informational, educational, or solicitation purposes. (Less) |
Transparency
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization makes this information easily accessible.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
| Transparency: | |
|---|---|
| CEO Salary Listed on 990 ... (More) | |
| Board of Directors Listed on Website ... (More) | |
| Key Staff Listed on Website ... (More) | |
| Audited Financial Statements on Website ... (More) | |
| Form 990 Available on Website ... (More) |
Additional Information
Unscored
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Total Revenue and Expenses
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
Salary of Key Persons
Presented here are this organizations key compensated staff members as identified by our analysts. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. In some cases, these amounts may include compensation from related organizations. Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting
Yonni Wattenmaker, Executive Director
$222,833 (9.22% of Total Expenses)
Current CEO and Board Chair can be found in the Leadership & Adaptability report below.
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2020
Business Master File Data
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Activities:
Other health services (BMF activity code: 179)
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
Data Sources: IRS Forms 990
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to view this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available).
Pandemic Response
This organization was impacted by COVID-19 in a way that effected their financial health in 2020. This normally would have reduced their star rating. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them, and doing this pauses our revision of their rating. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Breast Cancer Alliance reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:
Fundraising Capacity
Revenue
Administrative Capacity
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:
While we are fortunate to have ended the year in a fiscally strong position in comparison to the prior FYE, fundraising to the same degree as that year prior was a great challenge. Without in-person events, and related sponsorships, our grant-making capacity suffered. We had also planned to expand our staff, which we subsequently did not do, so the burden to perform, on every level, was higher than ever.
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:
Our program delivery was impacted by the size of our grants, and the number of which we were able to provide. As a result, we could fund fewer exceptional research projects and provide less funding to support the breast health care needs of underserved patients, the number of which only grew during the pandemic.
How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:
We worked from home, ignored traditional office hours, and turned nearly everything virtual, from meetings to our annual benefit luncheon. We tried on new events, like virtual wine tastings and poker and family game night, and managed to expand our audience nationally by doing so.
Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:
We will allow the opportunity for remote working on a part-time basis, as the need to be in the office has shifted drastically. We are thrilled to have a broader base of interest and support due to our virtual programming, and saved on production costs as well, so going forward our programming will be a mix of both in person and online.
Historical Ratings
| Date Published | Form 990 FYE | Overall Score | Overall Rating |
| Rating Version: 2.1 | |||
| 6/1/2020 | 2019 | 92.26 | |
| 3/1/2020 | 2018 | 90.70 | |
| 7/1/2019 | 2018 | 89.12 |  |
This organization received multiple star ratings within this fiscal year, due to an update to it's Accountability and Transparency data and/or the receipt of an amended Form 990. | |||
| 12/1/2018 | 2017 | 81.31 | |
| 5/1/2017 | 2016 | 85.17 | |
| 8/1/2016 | 2014 | 84.14 | |
| 6/1/2016 | 2014 | 83.16 | |
| Rating Version: 2.0 | |||
| 10/1/2015 | 2014 | 88.27 | |
| 7/1/2015 | 2013 | 89.33 | |
| 10/1/2014 | 2013 | 87.59 | |
| 12/1/2013 | 2012 | 84.07 | |
| 11/1/2013 | 2011 | 89.80 | |
| 10/1/2013 | 2011 | 87.49 | |
| 4/1/2013 | 2011 | 85.56 | |
Impact & Results
This score estimates the actual impact a nonprofit has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.
Impact & Results Score
Not Currently Scored
Breast Cancer Alliance cannot currently be evaluated by our Encompass Rating Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Do you work at Breast Cancer Alliance? Join the waitlist for an updated Impact & Results score.
Additional Information
Unscored
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Largest Programs
Breast Cancer Alliance reported its largest program on its FY 2020 Form 990 as:
$966,323
Spent in most recent FY
100%
Percent of program expenses
RAISE FUNDS FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH NATIONALLY,FINANCIALLY ASSIST BREAST CANCER SERVICES IN THE NEW YORK AND CONNECTICUT AREA AND EDUCATE WOMEN ABOUT BREAST CANCER'
Leadership & Adaptability
This score provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
Leadership & Adaptability Score
100
out of 100
The score earned by Breast Cancer Alliance is a passing score. This score has no effect on the organization's Star Rating.
Encompass Rating V4 provides an evaluation of the organization's Leadership & Adaptability through the nonprofit organization submitting a survey response directly to Charity Navigator.
Leadership & Adaptability Report
100
of 100 points
Mission
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s mission
The mission of the Breast Cancer Alliance is to improve survival rates and quality of life for those impacted by breast cancer through better prevention, early detection, treatment and cure. To promote these goals, we invest in innovative research, breast surgery fellowships, regional education, dignified support and screening for the underserved.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Vision
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
Our vision is to achieve breast cancer survivorship for all by 2030. We will continue to invest the areas outlined in our mission statement, and devote as much as we can to making breast cancer one that is more easily survivable, treatable, preventable, and one in which it becomes a chronic condition as opposed to a sometimes deadly one.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Strategic Goals
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: There is still so much work to be done to improve statistics for breast cancer, despite the great strides that have been made over the past 25 years.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Awareness and education are key to early detection and improved survival rates. We will be expanding our virtual educational offerings to reach all, regardless of gender, race or socioeconomic status.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Goal Three: We are always opening to hear what attracts people to our mission, and in what ways they would like to meaningfully engage. We will continue to adapt our programming to accommodate that feedback.
Goal Type: New program(s) based on observed changes in needs among our constituencies/communities served.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Leadership Development
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Describe an investment in leadership
Our Executive Director has engaged in multiple webinars and conference, on everything from COVID impact to breast cancer challenges and advancements to improved fundraising strategies. She shares what she learns with the leadership and also shares opportunities in which they can engage as well, to improve their own skills and knowledge of philanthropy and breast cancer.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Mobilizing for Mission
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
Policy Advocacy
What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?
Our leadership is constantly striving to improve the impact of, and enhance the options for how Breast Cancer Alliance operates and shares both its knowledge and its funding. We partner with other organizations, in this field and outside, attend other non-profit events, attend seminars, and investigate best practices of other organizations, non-profit and for-profit from whom we can learn. The subject matter of that investigation could be breast cancer itself, non-profit management, effective webinars, event programming or more.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Story of Adaptability
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
It feels like we reinvented the wheel over this last year! While we worked entirely from home, we tried our best to continue to offer the events that meant the most to our donors, while creating new ones to generate the much needed funding upon which we rely for our grants. We had all meetings, including our annual dinner, by zoom. We added virtual events, and for some, offered options to include meals for people to enjoy on their own or, once safe, to enjoy with a few friends in the safety of their own home (or yard!) We sent a one-time COVID appeal talking about the impact of COVID on our giving. We curtailed spending on events themselves, and saved money on travel, donor meals and so one. We drifted away from less paper and upped our social media presence. Though things are reopening, many of our new strategies have become more effective than the old, shaping how we move ahead in the future and conduct best practices for our foundation.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Additional Information
Unscored
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Organization Leadership
Yonni Wattenmaker
Executive Director
Meg Russell
President
Culture & Community
This score provides an assessment of the organization's engagement with the constituents it serves, a practice we term Constituent Feedback. When organizations listen to constituents, they are able to better deliver on programs and meet the needs of stakeholders. A future version of this Beacon will also assess an organization's people operations and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) metrics.
Culture & Community Score
Not Currently Scored
Breast Cancer Alliance is currently not eligible for a Culture & Community score because we have not received its Constituent Feedback data. Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to fill out the How We Listen section of their Candid profile. This data will provide the basis for the initial evaluation of Culture & Community.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Culture & Community Report
Unscored
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Constituent Feedback
Constituent Feedback and Listening Practice data are not available for this organization. Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to fill out the How We Listen section of their Candid profile. This data will provide the basis for the initial evaluation of Culture & Community.
Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations that engage in inclusive practices, such as collecting feedback from the people and communities they serve, may be more effective. We award every nonprofit that completes the Candid survey full credit for this Beacon, in recognition of their willingness to publicly share this information with the nonprofit and philanthropic communities. Although the data is not evaluated for quality at this time, future iterations of this Beacon will include third party or other data that will serve to validate the information provided by the nonprofit.
Analysis and Research
Like the overall Encompass Rating System, the Culture & Community Beacon is designed to evolve as metrics are developed and ready for integration. Our partnership with Feedback Labs and Guidestar by Candid, and other partners including Fund for Shared Insight, GlobalGiving, and Keystone Accountability, enables us to launch the first version of this beacon with Constituent Feedback information collected on Candid's site.
Feedback practices have been shown to support better Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion outcomes, an essential area of assessment that we intend to further expand and develop in the future. Feedback Labs has documented several studies which indicate that beyond achieving organizational goals, nonprofits that are attentive and responsive to concerns and ideas raised by beneficiaries establish stronger relationships with the people they serve, promote greater equity, and empower constituents in ways that can help to ensure better long-term outcomes. You can find resources to help nonprofits improve their feedback practices here.
