LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
Life should take your breath away. Not lung cancer.
LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
EIN: 20-8730839
Mission
LCFA’s mission is the improvement in survivorship of lung cancer patients through the funding of transformative science. While raising funds to support lung cancer research, LCFA will raise the public’s awareness and serve as a resource for patients or anyone seeking answers, hope, and access to updated treatment information, scientific investigation, and clinical trials.
Ruling year
2007
Principal Officer
Kim Norris
Main address
15 S. Franklin Street
New Ulm, MN 56073 USA
EIN
20-8730839
Respiratory system diseases
Cancers
Population served
Adults
Caregivers
People with diseases and illnesses
NTEE code
Cancer Research (H30)
Lung (H45)
Cancer (G30)
IRS subsection
501(c)(3) Public Charity
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Tax forms
Communication
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reportsWhat we aim to solve
According to a recent study by Northwestern University's Kellogg MBA program, the public is dangerously uninformed about our nation's second leading cause of death; only behind heart disease. Lung cancer accounts for more deaths than any other cancer. More than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined! An estimated 155,870 deaths are expected to occur in 2017 in the United States, accounting for about 27% of all cancer deaths. However, federal funding for lung cancer research per death was just $1,680 compared to $24,846 for breast, $12,644 for prostate and $6,344 for colon. Not surprisingly, lung cancer has the lowest 5-year survival rate of the other most common cancers: only 18%, versus prostate at 99%; breast at 89%; and colorectal at 65%.
Lung Cancer Foundation of America's goal is to raise funds for lung cancer research and to raise awareness of the huge public health impact of lung cancer in the United States.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Satellite Media Tours
Satellite Media Tour (SMT): one-on-one interviews with all media (TV, Radio, Online) in all markets, in single day, usually conducted from a studio space or remote location via satellite. Media: Television news, radio news/talk, and relevant online and print media outlets.
Tour Dates: June and November, annually
Meet the Investigator Video Series
Meet the Investigator Video Series distribution will incorporate email blasts and social media. We will incorporate message points to address Genomic Testing, Clinical Trials, Targeted Therapies, Immunotherapy, Impact of Research, and Specific Gene Mutation Series (ALK, EGFR, ROS-1, etc). The call to action: asking the general public to watch a 2 minute video featuring a key opinion leader/investigator and take a brief survey testing knowledge post video experience.
Young Investigator Lung Cancer Research Grants
Lung Cancer Research grants are offered to young lung cancer investigators (within 7 years of their first academic appointment) who meet the criteria for these best in science awards. 2 awards are offered each year in the amount of $200,000 each. This allows the award recipient 2 years of lab work on their specified project.
Hope With Answers Video Series
A lung cancer diagnosis can be like going to a foreign country. You need to learn a new language. In order to get where you want to go, you need to learn what questions to ask and how to ask them.
At first, it all seems terribly daunting. You can’t take in everything. You feel the need to digest the information you need step by step. You need your family and caregivers to know and understand what’s happening, too.
It’s time to bring the patient/caregiver/physician conversation into the home.
There are 3 levels in the Hope With Answers video series:
INTRO – Basic information for those newly diagnosed
INTERMEDIATE – More in-depth discussions for those who now need deeper knowledge to navigate an initial treatment plan or to even find what type of treatment might be their best option.
IN-DEPTH – The in-depth level for lung cancer patients and their families who have been navigating the journey and now need the next level of information to understand how to bridge to other treatment options if they’ve experienced resistance or their lung cancer has progressed.
Hope With Answers Podcast Series
This lung cancer podcast series is a resource for patients and their families to learn from researchers and doctors in the forefront of lung cancer research. Experts and lung cancer survivors weigh in on the latest FDA-approved treatments and the newest research discoveries. Doctors, researchers and patients are all finding new ways of managing lung cancer as a chronic disease, like diabetes. The goal is for more lung cancer patients to be living with lung cancer, but living the lives they always intended, despite the disease.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of website sessions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, People with diseases and illnesses, Families
Related Program
Hope With Answers Video Series
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of website pageviews
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, Families, People with diseases and illnesses
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of new website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Caregivers, Families, People with diseases and illnesses
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Double the five-year survivorship of lung cancer within the next five years. Raise the national profile of lung cancer in order to increase private funding for research.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Prompt a national dialog about lung cancer by developing videos, podcasts and online materials discussing how advances in lung cancer research are helping more people to be living with lung cancer as a chronic disease. Form alliances with the top scientific institutions and researchers in order to identify and fund the most promising transformative research into the detection, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. Fund lung cancer research grants to researchers who are not at institutions that are a part of the normal NCI "pipeline" for research grants, and support them with mentors to help them succeed.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA) is uniquely poised to meet our goals of raising funds for lung cancer research and raising awareness of lung cancer's huge public health impact.
LCFA is advised by a board of lung cancer researchers who are preeminent in the field. In its 15-year existence, LCFA has been responsible for funding over $8,000,000 in lung cancer research grants. The LCFA grants are awarded to Young Investigators who have many years ahead of them in their careers to make a real and lasting difference in lung cancer detection, prevention and treatment.
In addition, LCFA has reached more than 60 million people with our awareness raising initiatives, led by our Satellite/Radio/Internet Media Tours which bring interviews with a lung cancer physician and a lung cancer survivor to national television, radio and internet outlets twice per year. LCFA hosts Spanish language Media Tours in addition to the English language tours.
LCFA stands out in the field of lung cancer advocacy organizations because of our commitment to funding significant research grants ($200K for 2 years of work) as well as for our dedication to reaching the general public - in their most comfortable language - with messaging surrounding lung cancer early detection, diagnosis, new research discoveries and treatments that are making a really difference to lung cancer patients and their families.
Our tag line - Life should take your breath away. Not lung cancer.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In its 15-year history, Lung Cancer Foundation of America has been responsible for awarding over $8,000,000 in lung cancer research grants. Our public education campaigns have reached more than 60 million viewers. LCFA aims to grow both our fundraising and our public education initiatives every year. We won't stop until we cure it!
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
LCFA serves both the lung cancer patient community and the lung cancer researcher community.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Community meetings/Town halls, comments collected on YouTube videos and social media posts,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
In 2023, LCFA will award a grant to a lung cancer researcher who is from an under-represented institution or group. This is the beginning of our plan to expand the lung cancer research workforce to include many more such researchers. LCFA will produce additional podcasts in Spanish to reach Spanish speakers in the US and worldwide with valid, easy-to-digest information on lung cancer, diagnosis, tests, treatments, clinical trials, etc. In 2023, LCFA continue to create content for our national multi-channel lung cancer public education and awareness campaign. The campaign will address this problem: How do we educate African American men and women lung cancer patients and their families and caregivers to ask about biomarker testing and eventually clinical trial research?
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
It has opened the lines of communications and helped us reach people we were not able to reach prior.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2020 info
1.07
Months of cash in 2020 info
8.6
Fringe rate in 2020 info
7%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
Revenue & expensesFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
This snapshot of LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
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Business model indicators
| Profitability info | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | -$208,572 | $45,042 | $8,328 | -$114,647 | -$59,277 |
| As % of expenses | -26.7% | 6.4% | 0.8% | -8.8% | -4.4% |
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | -$208,572 | $45,042 | $8,328 | -$114,647 | -$59,277 |
| As % of expenses | -26.7% | 6.4% | 0.8% | -8.8% | -4.4% |
| Revenue composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $526,365 | $879,775 | $1,353,237 | $1,003,191 | $1,432,839 |
| Total revenue, % change over prior year | -20.9% | 67.1% | 53.8% | -25.9% | 42.8% |
| Program services revenue | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Investment income | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.1% |
| Government grants | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 2.9% |
| All other grants and contributions | 99.9% | 99.8% | 99.8% | 99.4% | 96.9% |
| Other revenue | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Expense composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses before depreciation | $781,937 | $706,733 | $1,085,709 | $1,308,962 | $1,351,529 |
| Total expenses, % change over prior year | 135.4% | -9.6% | 53.6% | 20.6% | 3.3% |
| Personnel | 25.8% | 30.8% | 24.7% | 20.4% | 18.8% |
| Professional fees | 4.4% | 20.3% | 26.4% | 24.5% | 31.7% |
| Occupancy | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Interest | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Pass-through | 25.6% | 28.3% | 36.9% | 45.8% | 44.4% |
| All other expenses | 44.1% | 20.3% | 11.8% | 9.1% | 4.9% |
| Full cost components (estimated) info | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses (after depreciation) | $781,937 | $706,733 | $1,085,709 | $1,308,962 | $1,351,529 |
| One month of savings | $65,161 | $58,894 | $90,476 | $109,080 | $112,627 |
| Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Fixed asset additions | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total full costs (estimated) | $847,098 | $765,627 | $1,176,185 | $1,418,042 | $1,464,156 |
Capital structure indicators
| Liquidity info | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Months of cash | 9.7 | 12.9 | 9.1 | 7.2 | 8.6 |
| Months of cash and investments | 9.7 | 12.9 | 9.1 | 7.2 | 8.6 |
| Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | 5.5 | 6.8 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 2.1 |
| Balance sheet composition info | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $632,866 | $761,008 | $827,036 | $782,490 | $972,661 |
| Investments | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Receivables | $10,000 | $200,000 | $489,723 | $535,460 | $578,200 |
| Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 32.4% | 36.8% | 33.5% | 56.8% | 58.3% |
| Unrestricted net assets | $356,439 | $401,481 | $409,809 | $295,162 | $235,885 |
| Temporarily restricted net assets | $78,000 | $206,000 | $465,200 | N/A | N/A |
| Permanently restricted net assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | N/A | N/A |
| Total restricted net assets | $78,000 | $206,000 | $465,200 | $274,350 | $414,937 |
| Total net assets | $434,439 | $607,481 | $875,009 | $569,512 | $650,822 |
Key data checks
| Key data checks info | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Principal Officer
Kim Norris
a successful management consultant, became a Lung SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) Patient Advocate at UCLA, several years after her 47 year old husband passed away from lung cancer.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
Board of directorsas of 03/01/2023
Board of directors data
Kim Norris
none
Term: 2022 - 2025
Kim Norris
Founder/President
David Sturges
Founder/Treasurer
Robert Figlin
Member of the Board
Susan Mandel
Member of the Board
David Levinson
Member of the Board
Marta Kauffman
Member of the Board
Trish Coury
Member of the Board
Martin Edelman
Member of the Board
Michelle Sayer
Member of the Board
Carolyn Zainer
Member of the Board
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/26/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Contractors
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- Financial statements for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
- Letter of Determination
- Officer and/or Employee data for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016
- Contractor and/or Paid Preparer data for 2020, 2019, 2018
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