Animal Shelter, Inc. of Sterling
Legal name: Animal Shelter Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043236868
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sterling, MA, United States
- Phone
- (978) 422-8585
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,623,131
- Expenses
- $1,373,583
- Assets
- $1,974,165
- Liabilities
- $377,144
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CARLTON GRADY (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SETH FINGER (VETERINARIAN): $150,000 total reported compensation
- CARLTON GRADY (PRESIDENT): $75,400 total reported compensation
- LEIGH GRADY (TREASURER): $75,400 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of Animal Shelter Inc. is to operate a no-kill animal shelter with no time or age restrictions. The shelter provides humane sheltering and high quality medical care for stray, unwanted, abused and neglected animals. These animals are sheltered in our facilities and foster homes until they find loving, lifelong homes. We always promote responsible pet ownership and try to improve the quality of life for the animals and people in our community. Our Shelter is supported entirely by donations and fees for services provided. We do not receive support from from federal, state or local governments. Our on-site veterinary clinic provides care for 3,000 animals per year. We of.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide care and rescue of animals including placement in adoptive homes.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 76% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.4%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $93.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.4%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.44; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.9%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 73.4% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $150K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.