AIRLINK INC
Supporting Communities In Crisis
Mission
Airlink is a global nonprofit organization working with aviation and logistics partners to transport relief workers and emergency supplies for reputable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) responding to rapid-onset disasters and other humanitarian crises around the globe. Airlink delivers critical aid to communities in crisis by providing free airlift and logistical solutions to nonprofit partners, changing the way the humanitarian community responds to disasters. Our responses to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other disasters have brought life-saving and life-changing aid to some of the world's most vulnerable beneficiaries. In addition to rapid response and related recovery, Airlink also focuses on preparedness, protracted emergencies and conflicts.
Ruling year
2014
President & CEO
Steven J. Smith
Main address
1120 20th St NW Ste 475
Washington, DC 20036-3406 USA
EIN
37-1710848
Disaster relief
Disaster preparedness
Communicable disease control
Disasters
Climate change
Population served
Refugees and displaced people
Internally displaced people
Victims of disaster
Victims of conflict and war
NTEE code
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (M01)
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
Aid organizations face many challenges jeopardizing their ability to reach vulnerable, disaster-impacted populations and developing communities in need. • During large-scale crises, infrastructure is damaged and supply chains often become constricted, making it difficult to send relief workers and deliver critical aid in the immediate aftermath of disaster. • While well-publicized large disasters often bring attention and public support to aid organizations, hundreds of lesser-known but equally important disasters are impacting families each year. With limited financial resources dedicated to these emergencies, aid organizations may not be able to respond. • Many developing areas are challenged with providing adequate health care, providing educational opportunities for children, and addressing other critical community problems. The logistics expertise and donated or reduced-rate flights coordinated by Airlink help address these challenges.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Disaster and Humanitarian Relief
Airlink works with global aviation and logistics partners to transport aid workers and emergency supplies for pre-qualified humanitarian organizations responding to rapid-onset disasters and other humanitarian crises around the globe. The organization ensures people receive immediate assistance in the form of food, medical care, clean water, shelter, and other critical services, and communities have the support they need to recover from crisis.
Where we work
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Africa
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Asia
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North America
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Oceania
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South America
Awards
Humanitarian Award 2023
The Wings Club Foundation
Affiliations & memberships
Interaction 2024
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of beneficiaries receiving assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Disaster and Humanitarian Relief
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Airlink support for programs results in more people receiving access to food, clean water, shelter, medical assistance, training, and other services.
Amount of emergency supplies/aid cargo transported by air to disaser zones and humanitarian crises.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
pounds
Number of disaster and humanitarian relief response and recovery projects undertaken.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Note in 2020 and 2021: COVID-19 response is counted as a single mission, though Airlink responded in 30 countries spanning the globe. Due to travel restrictions, NGOs responded to fewer world crises.
Number of aid organization partners assisted.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Airlink currently has 150 vetted NGO partners, some responding to one-time events and others responding to multiple events year over year. Airlink's growth has capacity to support more each year.
Number of airline/logistics companies engaged in mission response.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Airlink has 50+ airline/logistics partners. The number of airlines reported reflects those we booked flights with in that year and is dependent on alignment of disasters/crises with airline routes.
Value of transportation/logistics provided relief worker passenger and relief cargo flights.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of relief workers moved into disaster zones and crises.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Flights are provided at no cost to skilled professional and volunteer responders. They assist local communities by coordinating with local agencies - providing specialized disaster response services.
Value of emergency cargo moved into disaster zones and crises.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
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?
Airlink aims to ensure people and communities impacted by disasters and other crises receive the life-saving assistance they need immediately. By helping responding aid organizations overcome logistical and financial challenges in transportation for relief personnel and emergency supplies, Airlink enables NGOs to deliver aid they might not otherwise have the funds to transport and leverage the impact of existing funds 2-5x through donated, discounted, and collaborative shipments. This enables NGO partners to scale their impact where they are needed most.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Strategies include growing capacity to complete more disaster and humanitarian relief missions by further developing a responsive, robust airline partnership program; increasing the frequency of missions requests from NGO partners, securing funding to complete missions when donated capacity from airlines is unavailable, building relationships and collaborate with key humanitarian logistics entities; further develop the organization's volunteer base; and adequately staff the organization with highly qualified professionals.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The organization has grown its expertise by recruiting experienced employees, engaging seasoned volunteers, and entering partnerships with other organizations in a variety of capacities directly impacting strategy areas. Airlink also benefits from an expansive network of aviation companies and professionals lending their expertise in support of the organization.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Airlink has grown its network to include 200 aid organizations and 50 commercial and charter airlines. Since its inception, Airlink has helped move over 11,000 relief workers and transported more than12M pounds of aid cargo. The organization is focusing on growing its capacity to help more organizations carry out missions to disasters and other complex emergencies.
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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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 inform the development of new programs/projects, 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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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 ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, 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 2023 info
7.49
Months of cash in 2023 info
0.8
Fringe rate in 2023 info
15%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
AIRLINK INC
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
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.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
President & CEO
Steven J. Smith
Steve Smith is the CEO of disaster logistics nonprofit Airlink and a passionate advocate for disrupting and redefining disaster logistics. With a career spanning almost two decades in the humanitarian and aviation sectors, Steve’s profound understanding of the critical role logistics plays in disaster response makes him an innovative thinker with a unique message for the humanitarian, philanthropic, and business community.
During his time as CEO, Airlink has grown from a unique start-up to a global humanitarian relief nonprofit that, in 2023, will support programs to reach almost 15 million people. Airlink simplifies and enhances the aviation industry’s critical role in the humanitarian relief and disaster response infrastructure. Under Steve’s leadership, Airlink has delivered aid to over 46 million people across the globe, working with the world’s leading airlines and logistics companies to provide free-of-charge transport on behalf of a network of over 200 NGOs.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
AIRLINK INC
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
AIRLINK INC
Highest paid employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
AIRLINK INC
Board of directorsas of 4/9/2025
Board of directors data
Todd Freeman
GECAS (retired)
Term: 2026 - 2023
Abnesh Raina
Anand Stanley
Airbus
Bruno Vandemeulebroecke
Kühne Foundation
Dawne Hickton
Cumberland Additive Inc
Jacqui Key
United Airlines
James Gagne
SEKO Logistics
James Hnat
JetBlue (retired)
Mahendra R. Nair
GE Aerospace
Mark Packard
JP Morgan Chase
Mary Ellen Jones
Pratt & Whitney
Nicole Huque
Krauthamer & Associates
Robyn Mandel
Law Offices of Robyn L Mandel
Timothy J. Lynes
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Todd Freeman
GECAS (retired)
Tom Ruth
Edmonton Int'l Airport (retired)
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 ? yes -
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? no
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
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