Hearty Helpings Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 921895666
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7168841686
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Food Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,977,317
- Expenses
- $8,745,147
- Assets
- $3,376,569
- Liabilities
- $2,679,690
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Tara A Ellis (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Tara A Ellis (President & CEO): $294,301 total reported compensation
- Heidi G Cheston (Chief Financial Officer): $170,448 total reported compensation
- Rachel Leidenfrost (EVP Projects & People): $162,156 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Hearty Helpings Inc was formed to conduct the program of preparing and distributing meals for needy individuals throughout Erie and Niagara Counties, New York, as a subsidiary of FeedMore Western New York Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity that provides food and nutritional services for the relief of needy persons. See the supplemental responses for detailed information on this corporation's activities.
What it reported doing in 2025
Hearty Helpings 24,000 sq foot commissary produces more than 5,500 meals each day for recipients of FeedMore Western New York's home-delivered meal programs and in-person community dining services, as well as frozen meals each week for our partner community dining sites and prepared meals for other community organizations.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 87% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.1%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 96.6%; rating input score 97
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 7th 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.79; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.7%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 22.1% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.1% of revenue deployed · 96.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $294K · 22 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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.
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.