Adventist Health System-West
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It reported loans to or from officers, directors or other insiders.
- Only 38% of its spending went to programs.
- Raising each dollar of donations cost 181 cents.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
Living God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope.
- Income
- $890.3 million
- Spending
- $968.7 million
- Spent on programs
- 38%
- Reserves
- -0.4 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 79%
- Employees
- 5,304
- Volunteers
- 0
- Highest pay
- $4.0 million, director/ceo
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
Weak: 16 out of 100. Higher than 1% of charities in its peer group (health care, over $100m).
Reserves
0 of 35Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.
Debt
2 of 20It owes 94% of what it owns.
Living within its means
4 of 15Spending exceeded income by 9% of income.
Income trend
10 of 15Income fell 4% on the year before.
Spending floor
0 of 1538% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 181 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
Strong: 90 out of 100. Higher than 27% of charities in its peer group (health care, over $100m).
Independent board
25 of 2513 of 14 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a 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
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
0 of 10Reports at least one of: diversion of assets, excess benefits, 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 (1)
- $367.6 million spent. Adventist Health is a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 100 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii with over 470 sites of care. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in hospitals, clinics, home care agencies, hospice agencies and joint-venture retirement centers in both rural and urban communities. Our compassionate and talented team of more than 38,000 includes associates, medical staff physicians, allied health professionals and volunteers driven in pursuit of one mission: living God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Together, we are transforming the American healthcare experience with an innovative, yet timeless, whole person focus on physical, mental, spiritual and social healing. Mission-driven The healthcare industry continues to experience significant changes. From high and rising costs to regulatory initiatives, these issues are causing hospitals and health systems to re-think who they are and how they want to deliver care. At Adventist Health, we are thriving and growing in the face of this transition by building on our legacy and re-establishing ourselves as the leader in physical, mental, spiritual and social health. We remain committed to "living God's love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope." Our mission represents the heart of our people. It expresses that we know the love of God and consistently reflect that love in our actions, relationships and work. Mission is the reason our organization exists. Community Health Development Adventist Health's commitment to improve well-being not only grew out of our mission to live God's love, but also from the needs we see in communities across our system of 27 hospitals. While diseases of despair continue to escalate along with healthcare costs, we are presented with the opportunity to bring whole person care, philanthropy, public heath, human services, government, community members, and business owners together to change the well-being of people, places, and equity. Nonprofit health systems, community-based organizations and public health agencies across the country all share a similar calling to provide public service to help improve their community members' lives. One area of public service where these entities share responsibility is ensuring all community members have the opportunity to live a healthy life. One way to accomplish this is by assessing the health of our communities through the community health needs assessment. In 2022, Adventist Health took this federally mandated requirement one step further with the vision of designing a people centric community health needs assessment. The Adventist Health Community Solutions team standardized a step-by-step process to develop and create a Community Health Needs Assessment report that focused on best practice methods, a collaborative approach, asset mapping that allowed for matching resources with chosen priorities and the development of an actionable Community Health Implementation Strategy to ensure strategic investment and measurable impact across our Adventist Health markets. This approach ensured a measurable, sustainable community benefit investment in people, places, and equity. In 2022, the Adventist Health Community Solutions team produced 16 CHNA reports and reached out to over 800 participants through 90 focus groups and over 50 key informant interviews. Populations reached included people experiencing homelessness, domestic violence survivors, food security providers, higher education professionals, homeless service providers, law enforcement, medical providers, tribal health services, public health, students, farm workers and older adults. This provided rich qualitative data where we learned about our community members' current state of health and listened to their greatest concerns for their friends and families. This work continued in 2024, where the community impact team laid the foundation for the upcoming 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment period and was busy traveling to markets and facilitating focus groups and key informant interviews to hear the voices of our communities where they live and engaged in a collaborative and equitable primary data collection process. Priority sessions were also facilitated and steering committee members for the community health needs assessment chose priority health needs for their communities. Each year the Roseville team supports the research, assessment, data collection and reporting process for the following systemwide community benefit workstreams: Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), Community Health Implementation Strategy (CHIS) and annual community benefit expense reporting. Additionally, operational tasks such as Community Benefit Inventory for Social Accountability (CBISA) entries and supporting the preparation of 20 community health plan update reports were also insourced, to make our local hospital teams available to drive impactful programs. In partnership with local hospital leaders and community boards, our systemwide cadence of these activities fosters greater collaboration to collectively address the selected high priority health needs at each market. In 2021, Adventist Health committed to launching six Blue Zone Projects within our community footprint. In 2022, the six active projects launched in Adventist Health communities include Bakersfield, Lake County, Mendocino County, Tuolumne County, Upper Napa Valley, and Yuba-Sutter. In addition to six Blue Zone Projects, Adventist Health also engaged in 14 Blue Zones Worksite Certifications at Adventist Health hospitals. Blue Zones Projects and Blue Zones Worksite Certifications have gained international recognition for their transformational impact on entire cities and communities. In 2024, we saw continued transformation of our six community Blue Zones Projects through policy initiatives around built environment, tobacco use, and food. We also encourage o
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 September 7, 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 September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Worth knowing.
Not individually listed by the IRS as eligible, which is usual for churches. The master file records contributions to it as deductible.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 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 September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 1947.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 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 October 7, 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.