Catholic Charities Diocese of Syracuse
Legal name: Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse Ny
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 150532085
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
- Location
- Syracuse, NY, USA
- Phone
- 3154241800
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $82,046,032
- Expenses
- $79,942,055
- Assets
- $76,688,934
- Liabilities
- $18,720,682
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
31 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHAEL MELARA (CEO & MEMBER/TRUSTEE)
Highest reported compensation
- MICHAEL MELARA (CEO & MEMBER/TRUSTEE): $263,414 total reported compensation
- TONYA BROWN (EXEC DIR BROOME): $206,599 total reported compensation
- ROBIN COTTER (EXEC DIR CHENANGO): $175,198 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Dedicated to caring for those in need while promoting human development, collaboration, and the elimination of poverty and injustice—empowering those served to transform their lives in the spirit of God’s love and compassion. Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) is the national office for Catholic Charities agencies nationwide. Catholic Charities USA’s members provide help and create hope for millions of people a year, regardless of their religious, social, or economic background. CCUSA provides leadership and support for the work of local agencies in their efforts to reduce poverty, support families, and empower communities. The mission of Catholic Charities is to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same. **Catholic Campaign for Human Services (CCHD).
What it reported doing in 2025
Other programs include substance abuse programs, weatherization assistance, retired & senior volunteer program, rural services, safe schools program, emergency services, crime victims services and other social service programs to provide local residents with quality services, advocacy on behalf of persons in need and a commitment to serve for the betterment of the individual, family and community.
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 99% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.6%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 88.3%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $90.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.8%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 86.6% of revenue deployed · 88.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $70.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $263K · 31 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 12 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.