Cat Guardians

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
352179328
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lombard, IL, USA
Phone
6305433395
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Reported finances

Revenue
$140,521
Expenses
$110,298
Assets
$351,583
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Beth Egofske (President)
  • Judy Papendorf (Vice- President)

People named in this filing

  • Beth Egofske (President)
  • Judy Papendorf (Vice- President)
  • Holly Sloan (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Cat Guardians, Inc. is a nonprofit organization designed to help with the feline overpopulation and homelessness problem in Du Page County, Illinois. Cat Guardians provides proper medical, and sustenance needs and loving care to these stray and unwanted cats. Each cat is spayed/neutered before adoptions to prevent additional unwanted animals. Cats not adopted or deemed unadoptable are welcome to live out their lives in our no-kill, caring shelter.

What it reported doing in 2025

Cat Guardians is a cageless shelter for cats in Lombard, IL. For 37 years, the shelter has matched homeless and abandoned cats with families and provided a permanent home for cats deemed "unadoptable" due to personality or age. The shelter is funded entirely by generous donors and adoption fees and staffed entirely by volunteers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% 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

STRONG - 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.4%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 93.1%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $42.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.5%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.19; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.4% of revenue deployed · 93.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $103K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.