Illinois · Nonprofit
NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION
NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $784,465 to it, the largest being LUNDBECK US CHARITABLE FUND ($250,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $784k
- Net assets
- $5.0M
What National Headache Foundation does
Mission
The National Headache Foundation (nhf) aims to create a future where everyone in the world with headache can thrive in optimal, functional and connected lives. Support is aligned to three pillars: (1) resilient and functional living, (2) medical understanding and advancements, (3) community-centered insights and empowered engagement. Nhf's nationwide programs promote greater public awareness, education, and advocacy of headache medicine throughout the continuum of experiences from diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment. These programs support patients, care partners, healthcare practitioners, payers, and policymakers by integrating various channels like websites, mobile app, social media, email, and in person to create a unified and personalized journey for all they serve.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Nhf focuses on the following patient programs and initiatives:-action4access: provides a comprehensive advocacy navigation guide to access care and treatment. There are four main educational areas of focus: patient assistance, insurance and pharmacy coverage, healthcare policy, and empowering patients and care partners in making informed decisions. -operation brainstorm: provides advocacy support, resources and education for veterans and their families living with headache disorders and migraine disease. To empower the military community with the knowledge and skills needed to actively participate in decisions about their headache care whether navigating within the va, tricare, and/or champva, at home and/or within their communities. Becoming a strong self-advocate and creating a partnership with healthcare providers to co-create the care/treatment plan aligned with personal goals and preferences. -migraine university: provides advocacy tips and tools for successfully navigating college with a headache disorder. Education and support around accommodations, understanding triggers, headache types, tracking your headache, finding a provider, and financial assistance. This information…
$643,455 spent55% of program spendingNhf focuses on the following professional programs and initiatives:-primary care migraine: a cme or non-cme program targeted to any clinician with interest in education on migraine, including primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, emergency room physicians, and pediatricians. This web and app-based training program provides continuing medical education at no charge.-advanced qualification in headache medicine certification (aqh): high stakes examination that recognizes a healthcare provider's headache experience in the classification, diagnosis, treatment and management of primary headaches, secondary headaches, and painful lesions of the cranial nerves and other facial pain. To be eligible for the aqh examination, a candidate must be a licensed healthcare practitioner with prescriptive authority who has experience in independently evaluating and managing headache patients.-fellowship & grants: the foundation funds certain external education and research projects that are aligned with the advancement of its mission. -professional meetings/education: the foundation attends ongoing professional educational programming, conferences, and webinars for the…
$315,035 spentof which $95,000 as grants$2,006 earned by the program27% of program spendingNhf focuses on the following nhf brand initiatives:-headaches.org: imagine a world without headache, we are here to help everyone who visits our comprehensive website.-headwise podcasts: headwise video and audio hosted by dr. Lindsay weitzel are educational discussions with headache experts on the latest treatment, research, lifestyle recommendations, and personal stories about living with migraine disease and headache disorders. Headwise can be found on apple podcasts, spotify, stitcher, overcast and more. A video version and transcript of headwise is available on the nhf website, youtube, and nhf facebook page.-nhf insights : a new video podcast channel was initiated in 2024 and is hosted by a member of the nhf board where invited guests appear in a fireside chat format discussing the latest headache topics of interest.-social media channels: nhf digital strategy is active across all channels; facebook, instagram, x, youtube, tiktok, linked in, threads.
$212,442 spent18% of program spendingPayments related to the philip and helene hixon National Headache Foundation charitable remainder unitrust
$4,925 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,175,857.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $3.8M to $6.4M (+70%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Susan Stone
CEO & executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 6 funders, grant income rose $41k → $85k.
6 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
33% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 68% · 2019 56% · 2020 63% · 2021 39% · 2022 36% · 2023 29% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
22% of NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 39% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
53% of NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $140k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Government funding NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50 on record.
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $50
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 37 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION?
- NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $784,465 to it, the largest being LUNDBECK US CHARITABLE FUND ($250,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $784,465 in grants to NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION?
- LUNDBECK US CHARITABLE FUND is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 28 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing