Cascade Shelter Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
916186777
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2020, Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2069310392
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$119,116
Expenses
$147,003
Assets
$283,125

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Julio Lafleur (Director)
  • Alex Guy (Director)
  • Jen Etsitty (Director)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Founded by low-income tenants and neighbors in 1976, the cascade shelter project is a member led cooperative dedicated to sustaining truly affordable housing in the heart of seattle. Tenant-members collectively steward three, adjoined historic buildings with twelve individual apartments ranging in size. We provide housing, cultivate community, and maintain the financial and physical integrity of the property, prioritizing disenfranchised communities. In the context of a regional housing crisis, we offer a model of tenant-led and managed affordable housing that is autonomous, inclusivie, empowered, and sustainable.

What it reported doing in 2025

With the Displaced Tenants Fund grant of $350000 and qualifying for the City of Seattle HomeWise Weatherization Program in 2020, we were able to begin our upgrade of foundation and new tool room floor remodel, tankless water heaters, sidewalks rebuilt, gaslines upgraded. With each project, members did Project Management and volunteered our labor to do work which lowered the price of our contracts. We also revised many of our organizational documents.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 33
  • 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: -23.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.93; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 32.7% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 55th 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 · $147K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.