Doctors Without Borders USA
New York, NY · EIN 133433452 · FY2023 is the latest filing on record · pre-cached
Doctors Without Borders USA: A "low overhead" poster child that defies simple judgments.
Doctors Without Borders USA spent more than it took in during its latest fiscal year, leading to a negative operating margin of -12%. However, over 13 years, the organization has maintained an average operating margin of 3%. They rely heavily on donations, which make up 97% of their revenue.
Myth
A charity with low compensation expenses is always more efficient.
Reality
Doctors Without Borders USA spends only 4% of its budget on compensation, yet ran a deficit in its latest fiscal year. This shows that low compensation alone doesn't guarantee financial stability or effectiveness.
Myth
A charity that spends little on fundraising is always better.
Reality
Doctors Without Borders USA spends 3¢ to raise each dollar, which is a reasonable amount. This investment helps them secure 97% of their revenue from donations, enabling their critical work.
Worth watching
- • Doctors Without Borders USA ran a deficit in its latest fiscal year, with total expenses exceeding total revenue by $89.1M.
- • The organization's operating reserve months have decreased by 7.6 since its earliest year on record, now standing at 3.7 months. This is in the 37th percentile among its peers, indicating lower reserves compared to many similar organizations.
Multi-year trend
Operating reserve months
Net assets ÷ monthly expenses — how long the org could run on savings alone.
Operating margin
(Revenue − expenses) ÷ revenue, per fiscal year.
How it compares to peers
Percentile rank among 75 International, Foreign Affairs organizations. Higher is framed as better on every bar here — including reserves and staff investment, which conventional overhead-ratio scoring would penalize.
Dashed line = peer median (50th percentile)
Ask about Doctors Without Borders USA
Answers are grounded only in this org's filed financial data above -- it won't guess at their programs, leadership, or anything not shown on this page.
Source: latest Form 990 PDF via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.