Better Decisions Counseling

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 475618297
IRS 990-EZ coverage: 2016–2024
Forms available: Form 990-EZ 2024
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone: 9163680700
Rating: 89
Verdict: STRONG
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Alcohol, Drug and Substance Abuse, Dependency Prevention and Treatment

Reported finances

Revenue: $186,695
Expenses: $186,695
Assets: $0
Liabilities: $0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

Janina Guarino (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

Janina Guarino (Executive Director)
Melisa Guerrero (Board Secretary)
Mary Pruitt (Board Member)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide Sober Living and Counseling Services at affordable prices

What it reported doing in 2024

Provided sober living and services at an affordable price

Operating model

Revenue model: Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 100
Transparency & Controls: 82
Sustainability: 18
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

Operating margin: 0%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
Governance: Filed governance answers
Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $187K in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
Schedules: 2 filed schedules
Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.