Paltown Development Foundation Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
EMPOWERING PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS BY CREATING DISEASE-SPECIFIC COMMUNITIES TO ADDRESS SOCIAL ISOLATION AND INFORMATION NEEDS THROUGH TRAINING, TECHNOLOGY, AND DEVELOPING PURPOSE-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP.
- Income
- $998,050
- Spending
- $718,515
- Spent on programs
- 62%
- Reserves
- 4.5 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
- Employees
- 5
- Volunteers
- 120
- Highest pay
- $49,624, dir of ops & finance (from 6/24)
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 78 out of 100. Higher than 55% of charities in its peer group (human services, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 4.5 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 5% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 28% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 42% on the year before.
Spending floor
8 of 1562% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 3 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 80 out of 100. Higher than 61% of charities in its peer group (human services, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 259 of 9 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (9)
- $257,997 spent. COLONTOWN: THE COLONTOWN ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR COLORECTAL CANCER PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS GREW FROM SERVING 10,000 MEMBERS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR TO OVER 12,600 BY YEAR END. THE COMMUNITY OF OVER 100 DISTINCT SUBGROUPS IS MANAGED BY A TEAM OF PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS, INCLUDING A FULL-TIME PROGRAM MANAGER, ALONG WITH MORE THAN 100 VOLUNTEER MEMBER ADMINS.
- $54,347 spent. COLONTOWN UNIVERSITY IS AN ONLINE COLORECTAL CANCER EDUCATION RESOURCE CREATED WITH A PATIENT CENTRIC LENS. PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS WORK TOGETHER WITH OUR DIGITAL EDITOR TO CREATE HUNDREDS OF PAGES OF HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATIONAL CONTENT. IN 2024 COLONTOWN UNIVERSITY SERVED 50,000+ VISITORS WITH GUIDES AND LEARNING CENTERS CREATED BY AND FOR PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS PLUS 100 ZOOM PRESENTATIONS FROM LEADING RESEARCHERS AND CLINICIANS.
- $41,613 spent. PLATFORM: COLONTOWN HAS GROWN SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 2011 TO MORE THAN 100 PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUPS SERVING OVER 11,000 COLORECTAL CANCER PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS. FACEBOOK OFFERS NO NATIVE CAPABILITY TO MANAGE COLLECTIONS OF GROUPS IN A CENTRALIZED WAY, AND PROVIDES VERY LIMITED ANALYTIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE CAPABILITIES. AS COLONTOWN GROWS, THESE CONSTRAINTS POSE AN INCREASING BURDEN ON THE MANAGEMENT TEAM'S ABILITY TO EFFECTIVELY SERVE THE MEMBERSHIP. IN ADDITION, PALTOWN HAS NO CONTROL OVER FEATURES, DATA, OR EVEN HOW GROUP MEMBERS CAN ACCESS, VIEW, AND RETRIEVE INFORMATION. THE COMMUNITY PLATFORM SPACE NOW OFFERS ROBUST OPTIONS FOR MANAGING COMPLEX COMMUNITIES AND ASSOCIATED RESOURCES. MIGRATION TO A DEDICATED HOSTED PLATFORM AND BRANDED MOBILE APP USING A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SOLUTION WOULD ENABLE COLONTOWN TO BETTER SERVE CURRENT AND FUTURE MEMBERS IN A PRIVATE SPACE. PALTOWN WOULD RETAIN CONTROL OVER DATA AND WOULD BE ABLE TO LEVERAGE ITS DISEASE EDUCATION RESOURCES TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN A MORE EFFECTIVE WAY.IN Q3 OF 2024, PALTOWN BEGAN PHASE 1 OF A PROJECT TO MIGRATE THE COLONTOWN VIRTUAL COLORECTAL CANCER COMMUNITY FROM FACEBOOK TO A DEDICATED PLATFORM AND CUSTOM BRANDED MOBILE APP. AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, PALTOWN CONDUCTED A NEEDS ASSESSMENT, DEVELOPED DETAILED PROJECT REQUIREMENTS, AND COMPLETED A VENDOR LANDSCAPE SURVEY. PALTOWN SELECTED AND CONTRACTED WITH A SOFTWARE PROVIDER BY THE END OF 2024. THE PROJECT LEAD DEVELOPED A DETAILED ROADMAP TO ENABLE WORK TO BEGIN IN Q1 OF 2025 TO BUILD OUT THE NEW SITE AND APP.
- $28,065 spent. EMPOWERED PATIENT LEADERS WORKSHOPS: PALTOWN'S EMPOWERED PATIENT LEADERS (EPL) WORKSHOPS TEACH PATIENTS AND CAREGIVER MEMBERS OF OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY TO BECOME LEADERS, AND ROLE MODELS FOR OTHERS BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE COLONTOWN COMMUNITY. IN 2024, OUR EPL WORKSHOPS WERE HELD BOTH IN PERSON AND VIRTUALLY, AND WE ALSO BEGAN WORK ON AN ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS COURSE TO BE LAUNCHED IN 2025. PALTOWN'S PROGRAM AND MANAGEMENT STAFF IS DRAWN ALMOST ENTIRELY FROM THE RANKS OF EPL GRADUATES, AS ARE OUR COLONTOWN COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS. PARTICIPANTS LEARN BEST PRACTICES IN COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT, SHARE EXPERIENCES, AND WORK TOGETHER TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS FOR THE MANY ISSUES THAT ARISE IN THE CONVERSATIONS IN COLONTOWN'S 100+ NEIGHBORHOODS.
- $22,374 spent. CLINICAL TRIALS & ALANNA PROJECT: COLONTOWN HAS COLLECTED DEIDENTIFIED TRIALS DATA OF REAL PATIENTS IN A SPREADSHEET NAMED THE ALANNA PROJECT. THIS DATA INCLUDES REAL TIME UPDATES ON SIDE EFFECTS, EFFICACY, AND OTHER REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES OF PATIENTS IN SPECIFIC CLINICAL TRIALS. WE HAVE BEGUN TO EXPAND ON THIS WORK WITH THE CREATION OF THE TRIALS HUB. THIS IS A CLINICAL TRIAL RESEARCH TOOL WHICH ALLOWS MEMBERS TO ACCESS ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION ON A SPECIFIC TRIAL WITHIN ANY AREA OF COLONTOWN. A SEARCH OF TRIAL MAY GARNER LINKS TO POSTS IN THE COMMUNITY, ALANNA PROJECT UPDATES, LINKS TO OUR FEATURED CLINICAL TRIALS SECTION ON CTU, OR A SPECIFIC DOCTALK AND THE LIKE. IT WILL BE A ONE STOP SHOP FOR GATHERING THE MOST RELEVANT, PATIENT CENTRIC DATA ABOUT A SPECIFIC TRIAL. IN 2024 THE FOCUS HAS BEEN ON BUILDING OUT THE BACK END OF THIS REPOSITORY.
- $4,436 spent. PARTNERSHIP WITH BLKHLTH: MID-2024, PALTOWN WAS INTRODUCED TO AN ATLANTA-BASED NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION, BLKHLTH, WHICH FOCUSES ON ADDRESSING HEALTH INEQUITIES WITHIN THE BLACK COMMUNITY. THIS PARTNERSHIP RESULTED IN JOINT FUNDING TO BEGIN EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BLACK AMERICANS AND PATIENT ADVOCACY GROUPS, LIKE COLONTOWN. THROUGH THIS CONNECTION, OUR ORGANIZATIONS HELD TWO LISTENING SESSIONS, ONE VIRTUAL, ONE IN-PERSON, TO LISTEN AND LEARN FROM THE BLACK COMMUNITY DIRECTLY, ABOUT THE BARRIERS TO JOINING AND PARTICIPATING IN PATIENT ADVOCACY. THE INFORMATION GATHERED DURING THESE TWO FEEDBACK SESSIONS WILL GUIDE OUR FUTURE WORK IN 2025.
- $7,476 spent. DERRIERE DIPLOMATS: DERRIERE DIPLOMATS IS PALTOWN'S PATIENT AND CAREGIVER OUTREACH PROGRAM. PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS SIGN UP TO REPRESENT COLONTOWN BY BRINGING INFORMATIONAL PIECES TO THEIR LOCAL ONCOLOGY CENTERS; SHARING THE INFORMATION WITH THE MEDICAL TEAMS AS WELL AS LEAVING BROCHURES FOR OTHER COLORECTAL CANCER PATIENTS. IN 2024, 44 INDIVIDUALS SIGNED UP TO REPRESENT COLOTOWN THROUGH THIS PROGRAM.
- $19,343 spent. 2ND OPINION PROJECT: PROVIDES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR STAGE IV COLORECTAL CANCER PATIENTS SEEKING SECOND OPINIONS AND NEW TREATMENT OPTIONS. SUPPORT IS PROVIDED FOR TRAVEL, LODGING, AND OTHER EXPENSES DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE SECOND OPINION APPOINTMENT.
- $13,009 spent. LEADERSHIP SUMMIT: AS AN ENTIRELY VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION, WE TRY TO GATHER IN PERSON ONCE A YEAR TO PLAN FOR THE COMING YEAR'S PROGRAMS. WE HELD OUR 2023 RETREAT IN THE DC AREA, WORKING THROUGH A FULL AGENDA GENERATING A WEALTH OF IDEAS AND ENERGY FOR THE FUTURE OF PALTOWN. WE ALSO ENJOYED THE RARE CHANCE TO ENGAGE IN TEAM-BUILDING EXERCISES.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since September 2017.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Could it be confused with another charity? Worth knowing.
A much larger organization has a similar name: C I S Development Foundation Inc (New York, NY), EIN 22-3304404. If that is the one you meant, check the EIN before giving.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.