Caritas of Birmingham
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 630945243
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sterrett, AL, USA
- Phone
- 205-672-2000
- Rating
- 59
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Roman Catholic
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,101,329
- Expenses
- $2,267,668
- Assets
- $8,954,160
- Liabilities
- $466,276
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Joan McDonald (Secretary): $20,928 total reported compensation
- Terry Colafrancesco (Pres/Treas): $17,130 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Caritas of Birmingham is a mission located about 20 miles southeast of Birmingham, Alabama. The mission is biblically based, is multi-purposed, serving many areas for the evangelization of the world through the messages of the Virgin Mary given in Medjugorje as the Queen of Peace.
What it reported doing in 2024
Caritas of Birmingham produces and distributes religious newsletters, books, CD's and information concerning the sightings of the Virgin Mary in the Hamlet of Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. This distribution has reached millions of families over the last several years. In addition to the books, CD's and newsletters, Caritas promotes the formation of Our Lady's Prayer Groups which also help distribute religious information and provides a 24 hour a day call-in service of recorded spiritual messages concerning the religious events in Medjugorje. For 2024, in addition to the daily mailings of books, CD's and newletters, bulk mailings of 269,000 pieces of religious information were distributed. Caritas provides all of these services free of charge to promote religious growth and a belief in the plans God has in the world today.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% 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
MIXED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 55
- Accountability: 21
- Sustainability: 48
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.4%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 86.6%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $32.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 71; 71st 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -7.9%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.95; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 90.4% of revenue deployed · 86.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $21K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.