Friendship Service Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
060871295
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New Britain, CT, USA
Phone
8602250211
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Shelters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,989,308
Expenses
$5,136,174
Assets
$13,119,292
Liabilities
$7,832,428

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Richard M Dighello (Interim President)
  • Don Beckwith (vice president)
  • Caitlin Rose (Chief Executive Officer)

Highest reported compensation

  • Caitlin Rose (Chief Executive Officer): $161,222 total reported compensation
  • suzy Rivera (Director of finance): $109,150 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Friendship Service Center makes love visible through compassionate, person-centered services for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Friendship Service Center, Inc. envisions a Greater New Britain community where everyone has a safe, affordable home and episodes of hunger and homelessness are brief and non-recurring.

What it reported doing in 2024

Supportive Housing: PEAK (People Empowered by Achievement and Knowledge) and HAL (Home At Last) programs offer subsidized housing vouchers to formerly homeless individuals or families so that they may live in apartments scattered throughout the Greater New Britain area while receiving case management services. Certificates are currently available for 33 apartments through PEAK and 10 apartments through HAL; participants pay one-third of their income for rent and the program pays the rest. ASH (Arch Street Housing) and Howey House are two buildings where formerly homeless individuals or families live in their own apartments within a communal building where on-site case management is offered to support self-sufficiency. Arch Street Housing consists of 21 one- two- and three-bedroom apartments for families and individual adults at 59 and 85 Arch Street in New Britain. Howey House consists of 11 efficiency or one-bedroom units for individual adults at 180 North Street in New Britain. We served 120 people from 83 households in FY25 through these programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 85% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 85.6%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $74.54 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: -2.9%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.55; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.4% of revenue deployed · 85.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $161K · 12 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.