The Bowery Mission
Legal name: Christian Herald Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 131617086
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2122266214
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religion Related N.E.C.
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $25,167,885
- Expenses
- $26,347,545
- Assets
- $61,118,154
- Liabilities
- $7,430,379
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAMES WINANS (PRESIDENT/CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JAMES WINANS (PRESIDENT/CEO): $308,459 total reported compensation
- ISABELLA WHITE (CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER): $240,025 total reported compensation
- CHERYL MITCHELL (CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER): $199,051 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Bowery Mission meets essential needs and creates transformative community with men, women, children and families in New York so that together we overcome homelessness and poverty, and flourish through the power and love of Jesus Christ. Looking for a new way to support The Bowery Mission and its life-transforming programs? Interested in doing good for our most vulnerable neighbors experiencing homelessness, hunger and other crises? Launch a personal or team fundraising page! Our fundraising platform is a great tool that allows you to turn birthdays, holidays, special events and more into fundraising opportunities to give hope and make an impact on our city. When you create a fundraising page, your impact is multiplied. To ensure your success, you will get:.
What it reported doing in 2024
Through the bowery mission's compassionate care programs, guests who are in crisis are welcomed and able to choose various types of help, including daily hot meals, safe overnight shelter, showers and clothing, meaningful daytime activities, and support from a social worker. Bowery mission partners provide on-site medical, optometric, legal, and other forms of care. Bowery mission staff members and volunteers extend radical hospitality and small acts of kindness to build trust, reignite hope, and equip guests with next steps on their journey to independence. In fiscal year 2025, the bowery mission provided more than 430,000 meals, 78,000 nights of shelter, 55,000 showers, and 25,000 articles of clothing. (continued on schedule o)men and women recovering from homelessness join a transformational residential community and make progress on goals to renew faith, rebuild relationships, improve health, build essential life skills, and secure employment and housing. Bowery mission staff members, volunteers, and partners provide financial management classes, addiction recovery support, personal and group counseling, job search assistance, spiritual formation classes, and housing workshops. In fiscal year 2025, more than 150 clients participated in our residential communities. One in five meet a rigorous graduation standard and join an alumni program that builds lasting connections long after graduates complete the program.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 93
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.5%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 72.7%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th 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: -4.7%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.32; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 76.5% of revenue deployed · 72.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $19.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 19 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 14 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.