Charleston Animal Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
576021863
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2022
Location
North Charleston, SC, USA
Phone
8437474849
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,268,545
Expenses
$11,672,079
Assets
$39,369,045
Liabilities
$1,952,173

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOE ELMORE (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
  • ALDWIN ROMAN (VICE PRESIDENT AND COO)
  • JOY HUBER (VICE PRESIDENT AND CFO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOE ELMORE (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $280,761 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH FULLER (CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER): $171,821 total reported compensation
  • MARGARET MORRIS (SENIOR VETERINARIAN): $156,605 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Since its founding, our mission has always stayed the same: the prevention of cruelty to animals. In 1874, charleston animal society became the first animal organization in South Carolina and one of the first in the nation and has never turned our local animals away.

What it reported doing in 2025

No kill charlestonin 2013, charleston animal society built the first community in the southeast where every healthy and treatable dog and cat has a home. We call it a no kill community. This project is intended to continually save all healthy and treatable dogs and cats in charleston county through 3 impact areas: (1) ending unnecessary euthanasia of companion animals, (2) ending overpopulation of companion animals, and (3) ending animal cruelty. In the greater charleston area alone, over 15,000 animals benefit from 15 strategies including (a) finding homes for homeless animals through 5,040 adoptions, (b) containing outbreaks of deadly diseases through 35,961 vaccinations, (c) sheltered unwanted and stray animals through 112,934 days of care, (d) preventing the births of unplanned litters through 15,406 spay/neuter sterilizations, (e) fostering 2,616 of the most at-risk animals through 70,624 round-the-clock days of in-home animal care & rehabilitation, (f) providing permanent refuge for threatened community cats through over 56,000 days of sanctuary care, (g) growing 11,671 children into humanitarians through 34,384 compassion education lessons, and (h) preventing/responding to animal cruelty through 85 cruelty-assisted law enforcement cases, and (i) helping families care for 2,442 pets through a cadre of assistance, such as emergency veterinary care and critical pet food.

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 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.2%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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: 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: 18.2%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.37; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.2% of revenue deployed · 82.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $9.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $281K · 30 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.