Charles River Alleycats Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 200352197
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Cambridge, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6179452430
- Rating
- 94
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $184,424
- Expenses
- $180,669
- Assets
- $93,499
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Catherine Lilly (President)
People named in this filing
- Catherine Lilly (President)
- Amy Reuss (Treasurer)
- Elizabeth Moroney (Clerk)
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
Humane control of cat populations in Eastern Mass
What it reported doing in 2025
The mission of Charles River Alleycats (CRA) is to humanely reduce the number of free-roaming cats in Eastern Massachusetts. Our goals are 1) to end feline euthanasia in area shelters by reducing the "supply" of cats and 2) to improve the lives of cats on the street that will never enter shelters. CRA's primary tool to achieve its goals is sterilization. In 2025, CRA assisted 1,553 cats, of which 1,228 were living on the street. They were humanely trapped, sterilized, and vaccinated by our participating veterinarians. CRA also assisted 325 cats owned by underserved residents. Of the 1,228 cats that were trapped, 994 had friendly dispositions and were placed in homes through our adoption partners. Upon assessment, 180 cats were found to be feral and were sterilized, vaccinated, eartipped, and returned to their colonies where caretakers provide food, water and shelter. 39 cats were so ill or injured that they were euthanized by recommendation of a veterinarian.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 94
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 94.9%; rating input score 95
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93% of revenue deployed · 94.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $171K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2011 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.