Breaking the Chains

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
465584476
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Fresno, CA, USA
Phone
5593214312
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Shelters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,086,790
Expenses
$992,031
Assets
$346,070
Liabilities
$80,950

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Debra Rush (CEO)
  • DON ESKES (President)
  • MIIKO ANDERSON (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tiffany Apodaca (COO): $86,439 total reported compensation
  • Debra Rush (CEO): $65,664 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 organization's mission is to provide hope, healing, and restoration to survivors of human trafficking.

What it reported doing in 2024

The primary focus of the organization is to serve victims of human trafficking and increase community awareness in the local area and the need to help recovering victims. The organization works closely with the juvenile justice department in the fresno community to assist victims of human trafficking. Victims are provided the following services: addiction treatment, case management, long-term housing, life skills workshops, education and job training, legal advocacy, supportive counseling, survivor leadership, therapy for residential participants, education and job support, and transitional housing. Breaking the chains serves an average of 75 survivors and their family's every day.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

SUPPORTED - 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: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.2%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: 72.7%; rating input score 73; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: 8.7%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 27.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 25.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.2% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $893K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $86K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.