Dallas Casa
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 751866204
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Dallas, TX, USA
- Phone
- 2148278961
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Civil Rights
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $11,773,852
- Expenses
- $13,052,041
- Assets
- $19,621,626
- Liabilities
- $410,350
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
51 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KATHLEEN LAVALLE (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- KATHLEEN LAVALLE (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $341,397 total reported compensation
- KEVIN BARNES (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $186,527 total reported compensation
- BEN WILKINS (CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER): $179,723 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Dallas casa volunteer advocates protect children, restore childhood and help child victims of abuse and neglect achieve their full potential.
What it reported doing in 2025
Dallas casa trains and supervises volunteers who are appointed by local courts to represent the best interest of each child involved in a dallas county child welfare case. Over the last seven years that dallas casa has been able to accept all court appointments to dallas county child welfare cases, the agency served more than 8,700 children with 3,200 volunteer advocates. Dallas casa serves more children with volunteer advocates than any of the more than 900 independent casa programs nationwide. For children in foster care, their dallas casa volunteer advocate is a lifeline, providing a constant in a young life that has been disrupted by trauma, change and uncertainty. Dallas casa volunteer advocates model for children how a reliable, trustworthy adult acts, hopefully improving the chances (continued on schedule o)that the cycle of abuse will be broken and that each child can reach their full potential. Among the many risks of foster care is the possibility a child gives up on themselves. Dallas casa volunteers reduce that risk by seeing the promise of a better future for each child, rather than the sum of their unfortunate circumstances. Dallas casa staff and volunteers believe that no child should be limited or defined by their time in foster care.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% for grants.
- 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.3%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 87.7%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -10.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.5; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 97.3% of revenue deployed · 87.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 42 of 42 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $341K · 51 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $773K reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.