Big Cat Rescue Corp
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 593330495
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
- Location
- Odessa, FL, USA
- Phone
- 8135055565
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Children's, Youth Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,042,237
- Expenses
- $1,593,726
- Assets
- $37,392,499
- Liabilities
- $7,680
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAMIE VERONICA MURDOCK (PRESIDENT /)
- CAROLE BASKIN (CEO / FOUNDE)
Highest reported compensation
- JAMIE VERONICA MURDOCK (PRESIDENT /): $103,759 total reported compensation
- HOWARD BASKIN (SECTY / TREA): $92,739 total reported compensation
- CAROLE BASKIN (CEO / FOUNDE): $79,715 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Big cat rescues mission is to provide funding for care of the cats formerly housed at the sanctuary, end abuse of big cats in captivity and prevent extinction of big cats in the wild.
What it reported doing in 2025
Advocacy - the organization educates the public about big cat issues in captivity and in the wild and advocates for legislation through its website that received an estimated 657,000 views during the year and through emails sent no less than monthly that go to over 6,000 recipients. Our youtube channel bigcattv.com has over 1.3 million subscribers and our videos there have received over 660 million cumulative views. We had over 4.2 million facebook followers at year end, over 275,000 followers on x, and over 165,000 on instagram. Our most significant advocacy accomplishment was the passage of the federal big cat public safety act into law on december 20, 2022 after over a decade of our leading the effort to get it passed. The bill ends the abusive cub petting and phases out private ownership of big cats by those who are not usda licensed exhibitors. We believe this will end 90% of the abuse of big cats held in captivity in this country. Since then we have worked actively with us fish & wildlife service on enforcement of the law. In 2024 we worked on a ballot initiative in Colorado to end the more abusive kinds of hunting of cougars, bobcats, and lynx. Unfortunately, it did not pass.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 47% for direct work, and 53% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 62
- Sustainability: 86
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.1%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 67.7%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $38.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 10th 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: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 68.4%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 23.46; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.3%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.1% of revenue deployed · 67.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $104K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 7 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.