When Gaithersburg mayoral candidate Tiffany Kelly highlights her experience, she often points to her role as founder and executive director of The Morning After Center for Hope and Healing Inc., a Florida-based nonprofit she created in 2013.

The organization’s stated mission was to assist victims of domestic abuse and pregnant mothers. However, the three most recent public tax returns (2019–2021) do not tell that story—instead, they show large financial inflows, monies paid to undisclosed entities, nearly blank descriptions of activity, and an eventual quiet disappearance.

Why Form 990s Matter for Transparency

Every nonprofit that receives federal tax-exempt status must file an annual Form 990 with the IRS. That form serves as the public’s window into how a charity raises and spends money and is designed to be informational.

One key section, Part III – Program Service Accomplishments, requires organizations to describe their major activities, who they served, and what they achieved.

When those lines are empty—as they are in The Morning After Center’s filings—the public has no way to verify that charitable work was ever performed. In the nonprofit world, this is not a minor paperwork error; it is the difference between transparency and darkness. The lack of detail matters because without it, the public is lost in the raw financial numbers.

We are not saying The Morning After Center did not do important work. We are saying it never disclosed anything about what it did at all.

The Morning After Center for Hope and Healing Inc., 2019 IRS Form 990, Page 2. Source: IRS.gov

Three Years of Revenue and Expenses

For its first five years (2014–2018), The Morning After Center reported less than $50,000 a year in revenue, using the IRS’s short “postcard” Form 990-N.

In 2019, the numbers jumped dramatically, reporting almost half a million dollars in contributions. The following years show steep declines and balance swings:

All figures derived from The Morning After Center for Hope and Healing Inc. IRS Form 990s. Source: IRS.gov

What the Numbers Show

Across these three years, the organization reported more than $1 million in revenue and $700,000 in expenses, yet never identified a single donor, program, facility, vendor, or beneficiary.

What stands out most is how the entire spending picture is compressed into a single line of “management” fees or “other expenses.”

That means there are no line items for rent, supplies, travel, professional services, or grants to other organizations or people—nothing that shows where the money came from, where it went, or what was provided in return.

In legitimate operations, management fees are normally a small portion of total costs—covering bookkeeping, overhead, or administrative contracts. Here, they represent virtually the whole budget. Without supporting schedules or notes, there is no way to tell whether those funds paid outside vendors, entities associated with board members, or simply served as placeholders for undocumented transactions.

A 2020 “prior-period adjustment” of $344,851 to net assets effectively erased most of the 2019 surplus, but the tax return provides no narrative or Schedule O explanation for the change. What happened to the money? Because the return provides no required details the public can’t tell.

In plain English: the paperwork doesn’t explain the money trail.

The Morning After Center for Hope and Healing Inc., 2019 IRS Form 990, Page 10. Source: IRS.gov

Blank Pages Where Accomplishments Should Be

In Part III of each return, the spaces meant to describe program work are essentially empty. The 2021 Schedule O adds only this single sentence that offers any insight into where the money went: “Outside services came in the form of compensating other facilities in fulfilling our purpose.”

That phrase could mean anything—from paying a clinic partner to reimbursing a contractor—but because there are no names, amounts, or supporting documents, the public cannot know.

When the financial side shows only “management fees” and the program side offers no specifics, it leaves the impression of an organization that raised money but never explained what it did with it.

Each Schedule O also repeats boilerplate language such as “Quarterly financial statements available upon request,” but no financial statements are attached or referenced elsewhere in the filing. That phrasing usually means available if someone asks, not included with the IRS return, as was required.

Governance and Oversight

Each return lists three directors: Tiffany Kelly, her mother, and a family friend. All were unpaid and held officer roles. The organization reported having no employees, no volunteers, and no audits on record.

That structure leaves the founder in full control of the finances and filings. While legal for a small charity, it introduces a significant risk for accountability.

Revoked Exemption, Dissolution & Maryland Emergence

The IRS currently lists the group’s tax exemption as revoked, effective May 15, 2025, for not filing a Form 990 for three consecutive years (2022 – 2024). According to SunBiz.org, the official Florida corporate registry, The Morning After Center failed to file its 2025 annual report and was administratively dissolved last month.

Kelly moved from Florida to Maryland five years ago, and that’s when The Morning After Center surfaced on the Montgomery County Volunteer Center website as an official agency offering education in return for student service-learning (SSL) hours—a program seemingly unrelated to its Florida-filed mission of helping abused women and pregnant mothers. That volunteer listing gave the organization a Maryland presence, even though there is no record of Maryland registration or filings with the state’s Charitable Organizations Division.

What Can Be Said Fairly

The Morning After Center’s filings are incomplete and confusing but not proven fraudulent. What is undisputed is that the returns fail to describe any measurable charitable work, and that nearly all reported spending was condensed into single line “management” or “other” expenses, with no public explanation of who received the money or what was delivered in exchange.

Kelly did not respond to an October 15 email from The Montgonion seeking verification of her professional and nonprofit claims. Given the lack of response, the publication did not make a separate follow-up regarding the nonprofit filings. The information presented here is drawn entirely from public records.

Why It Matters for Gaithersburg Voters

Non-profit executives transition well into elected roles like mayors because their careers demand rigorous fiscal management, directly translating to the need for prudent municipal budgeting and resource allocation. They are seasoned in organizational management, having led complex operations, fundraising, and service delivery, which mirrors the challenges of overseeing a city's various departments and services. Crucially, non-profits operate under intense scrutiny, instilling a deep commitment to transparency and accountability to stakeholders—be they donors, boards, or the communities they serve. This experience prepares non-profit executives to govern openly and responsibly, adhering to the public trust required of a city's top-elected official.

In Tiffany Kelly’s case, the public record shows a charity with six-figure revenues, little transparency, and not one iota of detail about where its money came from, who it served and how those people benefited, and who got paid. Even if every transaction were proper, the paperwork reflects weak administration, missing disclosures, messy accounting, and sloppy compliance with federal filings—traits that voters may weigh heavily when considering who should manage a city’s programs, budget, and staff.

Editors Note: 990 tax returns for non-profit organizations are available on the IRS website at https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/tax-exempt-organization-search. To view filings submitted by The Morning After Center for Hope and Healing Inc., search for EIN 46-2929074.