Heartly House Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521186250
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Frederick, MD, USA
Phone
3014186610
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Violence Shelters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,118,556
Expenses
$5,063,423
Assets
$2,441,305
Liabilities
$223,012

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NICOLA THRASH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • INGA JAMES (FORMER PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • INGA JAMES (FORMER PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $164,282 total reported compensation
  • NICOLA THRASH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $116,314 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 mission of heartly house is to end domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse, and to provide victims with safety, shelter, and supportive services.

What it reported doing in 2024

Direct legal services provide victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse with prepresentation and advocacy through the legal system. Legal services provided included representation at protective/peace order hearings, divorce, and custody hearings, and court accompaniment to low-income victims. In fy25, heartly house provided legal services to 497 clients.community engagement and prevention and training for survivors of abuse, their loved ones, and their communities on the awareness and prevention of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, human trafficking, and child abuse. In fy25, community engagement and prevention provided training to 705 community members.community based services (cbs) is a new program that was established in fye 6/30/2022. Satellite offices in towns across frederick county have been and continue to be established to bring critical services closer to those in need. These confidential, accessible, full-service offices are eliminating some of the barrieers that stand in the way of getting help with legal assistance, abuse intervention or human trafficking prevention. In fy25, the cbs program provided services to 526 clients.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.9%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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; 63rd 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: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.1%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.9% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $164K · 18 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.