SafeHouse Ministries
Legal name: Chattahoochee Valley Jail Ministry Inc Dba Safehouse Ministries
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 264503737
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2010
- Location
- Columbus, GA, United States
- Phone
- (706) 322-3773
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Christianity
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,151,903
- Expenses
- $2,262,397
- Assets
- $1,113,911
- Liabilities
- $433,961
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- REV NEIL RICHARDSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CHAPLAI)
Highest reported compensation
- REV NEIL RICHARDSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CHAPLAI): $80,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
God has called us to love and serve men and women affected by addiction, homelessness, and incarceration as they transition back into our community. SafeHouse Ministries seeks to meet the emergency needs of those we serve and to offer long-term solutions. Together we can address immediate needs and move forward to restoring spiritual wellness, employment, sobriety, and housing.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provided spiritual enrichment, education, training, resources and basic necessities to persons transitioning from prison to the community who are in need. Moved 165 people into permenant housing and 633 individuals utilized transitional housing between two dormitories and subsidized housing, including lodging and meals. Provided over 4,750 bus passes for travel to those in need. 83 individuals received sustance abuse treatment. Hosted an average of over 2,500 people per month for meals, recovery meetings, counseling, ged training and testing, and other needs to support transition from prison to the community or other needed assistance.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 81% 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 and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.7%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $99.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: -5.1%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.2% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 86.7% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.