American Breast Cancer Foundation

CharityWatch has assigned American Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF) a "?" rating for its fiscal year ended 03/31/2020 based on our analysis of its audited financial statements and IRS Form 990. The face value of ABCF's statement of functional expenses reporting (exclusive of 990 line 11f, Investment management fees) reflects a 66% program percentage. Based on CharityWatch's rating analyses for ABCF dating back to its fiscal year ended 03/31/2004, ABCF's annual program percentage has never exceeded 49%, and its letter grade ratings have either been a "D" or an "F" on our "A+" to "F" scale since that time for the fiscal years rated.

CharityWatch contacted ABCF via email on 06/7/2021 and via email and U.S. mail on 06/22/2021 to request an explanation for the significant variances in its reported financial efficiency. Specifically, we asked the following:

1. Please provide a description of changes in operations that resulted in the reported improvement in ABCF's financial efficiency for fiscal 2020 relative to its historical reporting. 

2. In fiscal 2017, ABCF allocated 37% of its Form 990, Part IX, line 5 salary expenses to program. In fiscal 2020 the amount allocated to program was 80%. Please describe what caused these changes in how officers, directors, trustees, and key employees spent their time on program activities as compared to management and fundraising activities from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2020. 

3. We observed in ABCF's Form 990 reporting that the charity's board [of directors] has expanded significantly in 2020 as compared to many prior years. We invite you to provide additional details about what motivated this expansion and describe any improvements your organization has implemented related to its governance.

CharityWatch's motivation for asking these questions is to attempt to discern whether ABCF's reported financial efficiency improvement in fiscal 2020 is the result of significant operational changes or simply the result of changes to how it is estimating and reporting its financial activities. As of 07/15/2021, ABCF has not responded to CharityWatch's questions. Should ABCF respond in the future, CharityWatch will evaluate the information we receive and reassess our "?" rating of the charity at that time. 

CharityWatch's most recent letter grade rating for American Breast Cancer Foundation was a "D" based on our determination that ABCF spent 41% of its cash budget on programs and approximately $33 to raise each $100 in cash support in the fiscal year ended 03/31/2017.

According to The American Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF) tax filing for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, ABCF reports re: the existence of a family or business relationship among officers, directors, trustees, or key employees (IRS Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 2): "Family relationship exists between Brenda Loube and Paul J. Loube" (IRS Form 990, Schedule O).

ABCF reports that Brenda Loube is Chairman of the Board, and Paul J. Loube is Chief Executive Officer. ABCF reports having three total officers, including both of the Loubes. In addition to Brenda Loube, ABCF reports having nine other board members in fiscal 2020 (IRS Form 990, Part VII).

According to The American Breast Cancer Foundation audit of March 31, 2020 (Note G, Business Concentrations):

"Contributions from one donor consisted of approximately 21% of the total contributions for the year ended March 31, 2020..."

According to The American Breast Cancer Foundation audit of March 31, 2020 (Note J, Risks and Uncertainties):

"In December 2019, an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) originated in Wuhan, China and has since spread to other countries, including the U.S. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. In addition, as of March 20, 2020, Governor Larry Hogan ordered the closure of the physical location of every 'non-life sustaining' ['non-essential'] business for what may be an extended period of time. Employees have transitioned to working remotely, and coming in to the office to perform tasks, as needed. There has been no immediate impact to the Foundation's operations. Future potential impacts may include continued disruptions or restrictions on the Foundation employees' ability to work. The future effects of these issues are unknown."

According to The American Breast Cancer Foundation audit of March 31, 2020 (Note K, Subsequent Events):

"In preparing these [audited] financial statements, the Foundation has evaluated events and transactions subsequent to March 31, 2020 through December 17, 2020, the date these financial statements were available to be issued..."

"The Foundation applied for and was approved a $69,300 loan under the Paycheck Protection Program created as part of the relief efforts related to COVID-19 and administered by the Small Business Administration. The loan accrues interest at 1%, but payments are not required to begin until a determination of the amount of forgiveness is made by the SBA. ... The Foundation is eligible for loan forgiveness of up to 100% of the loan, upon meeting certain requirements. The loan is uncollateralized and is fully guaranteed by the Federal government.

"The loan was received on May 1, 2020. At that time the amount was recoded as a conditional grant. Since that date the Foundation has spent all the monies on qualified expenses under the PPP program. ... The Foundation believes that all conditions related to forgiveness under the PPP loan program have been met and that the full loan will be forgiven."

"The Foundation also applied for and was awarded a $80,200 [Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)] from the Small Business Association provided as part of the relief efforts related to COVID-19. The loan was received in two payments of $6,000 and $74,200 on May 5, 2020 and June 30, 2020, respectively. The loan accrues interest at 2.75%, but payments are not required until one year after receiving the loan."