Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue Society Ltd

What it reported doing in 2025

Gentle giants draft horse rescue furthers its mission by also assisting humane law enforcement organizations across the united states by offering control and custody during litigations of abuse and neglect, we are often able to offer this resource at no cost to the humane law enforcement organization, further empowering them to enforce animal welfare law and protect more horses. We also offer our rescue services to private owners of horses who find themselves unable to provide adequate nutrition and/or medical care to the animals they possess, preventing those animals from further neglect or suffering and keeping more horses out of the horse slaughter auction pipeline. Gentle giants operates several public safety net programs to assist animals in need, such as operation geld - a certificate based financial assistance for equine castrations within the state of Maryland; Maryland hay bank - which provides support of hay to private owners facing a temporary financial crisis to assist the horse owner during a brief period of need, and to keep horses in homes; euthanasia assistance - to financially provide for veterinary administered humane euthanasia of horses in extreme states of illness and injury in which rehabilitation would be impossible or even cruel, preventing horses with grave injuries like broken legs, those who are of advanced age, or those in late-stage illness from suffering the additional horror of languishing in their current state or being shipped to slaughter in their fragile condition. Gentle giants also extends donation-based technical large animal rescue services within a two-hour radius of our facility. Gentle giants reaches hundreds of thousands of people annually to educate them on the horror of horse slaughter through public expositions and presentations, clinics, speaking engagements, tours, social media platforms, web-based information, email, direct mail, and telephone. In 2019, gentle giants reached 1,953,905 individual americans to make them aware of the fate of unwanted horses in the united states. 59,381 people joined membership in gentle giants, returning 118,762 signed petitions to the speaker of the house to stop the export of horses for slaughter. Gentle giants is also active in the Maryland horse council, the Maryland horse industry board, and Maryland association of rescues and equine sanctuaries.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 61.2%; rating input score 61
• Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
• Fundraising efficiency: $9.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 24.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.82; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings