Canine Inspired Change

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
460972575
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6512959203
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$528,165
Expenses
$484,030
Assets
$491,738
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIELLE GRACZYK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIELLE GRACZYK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $78,000 total reported compensation
  • KATHRYN MCMULLEN (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $44,986 total reported compensation
  • ALYSSA BOLDISCHAR (BOARD MEMBER): $40,310 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Cics mission is to work with therapy dogs and their people to help promote social and emotional wellness to all of our participants and, therefore, the community at large. Cic develops and leads custom courses, fusing dog training and therapy to help empower and nurture students in a fun and non-threatening way.

What it reported doing in 2025

Canine inspired change (cic) facilitated approximately 450 small-group therapy dog sessions focused on connection, healing, and social-emotional learning. These sessions were held in schools and various state, county, and community programs accross the twin cities, positively impacting over 515 participants and a great number of volunteers. Programming in 2025 impacted but was not limited to youth in regular education and special education programs, youth in a day and residential mental health programs, and incarderated youth and adults. Cic small group therapy dog programming continued to grow in 2025 to include work with youth in a substance abuse recovery program, building on many previous years of work with adults in substance abuse recovery programs. Cic continued to employ work-based learners to support training classes, programing, and general operations and continued to expand its dog training offerings to meet the needs of the community. Cic continued to offer youth camp programming and public offerings at its community education center in st. Paul, mn, and cics trained therapy dog teams took part in numerous community events throughout the twin cities metro area.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 63% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 68
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.4%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 7th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.4%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.02; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 39.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.4% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $338K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.