Fearless Kitty Rescue

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
460993077
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Fountain Hills, AZ, USA
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,504,695
Expenses
$559,548
Assets
$2,243,464
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Steven C Hedden (President and CEO)
  • Linda Kavanagh (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Steven C Hedden (President and CEO)
  • Linda Kavanagh (Vice President)
  • Elaine Marzola (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

As a no-kill cat rescue serving our community of Fountain Hills, AZ and the surrounding areas, we are dedicated to rescuing cats and kittens left homeless for whatever reason and placing them in a loving, responsible, permanent home.

What it reported doing in 2025

Fearless Kitty Rescue provided veterinary care for over 480 felines in 2025. Our veterinary expenses include spaying and neutering approximately 306 cats in 2025

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 93% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 87
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 33.4%; rating input score 33
  • Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $202.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 62.8%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.01; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 33.4% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $503K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 26 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.