Cats in Action Nfp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
884052929
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7738989899
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Reported finances

Revenue
$148,159
Expenses
$119,214
Assets
$369,560
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Erica Roewade (Board President & Outreach Director)
  • Elizabeth Houtz (Board Vice President & Programs Director)

People named in this filing

  • Erica Roewade (Board President & Outreach Director)
  • Elizabeth Houtz (Board Vice President & Programs Director)
  • David Davis (Board 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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Cats in Action's mission is to help people help outdoor cats through TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), spay/neuter, rescue and providing veterinary care. We primarily help cats and the people who care for them in low-income neighborhoods in Chicago.

What it reported doing in 2025

Animal welfare outreach including TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), low-cost spay/neuter and rescue. Transfer/rescue from open-intake shelters. Foster, adoption and transfer programs for rescued animals. Requirement that animals be returned if adoption is unsuccessful. Expenses include veterinary care, spay/neuter, food and cat litter, humane traps and animal crates, boarding of animals when necessary. The programs is supported by volunteers and there is no expense for a physical building. Cats in Action took in 358 cats in 2025, trapped and returned 1092 cats and assisted with medical services for 20 cats and offered temporary boarding to 1 cat (total = 1471 cats). Cats in Action transferred out 253 cats to other humane organizations, adopted out 81 cats and returned 6 cats to owners. Five cats died in care and 12 cats were euthanized.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.
  • 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 98.2%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: 19.5%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.1; 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: 26.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 24.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 79.9% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79% of revenue deployed · 98.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $117K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.