Hope Sheds Light Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 463910504
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Toms River, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 7322440783
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alcohol, Drug Abuse, Treatment Only
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,913,949
- Expenses
- $1,815,895
- Assets
- $1,647,426
- Liabilities
- $71,602
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PAMELA CAPACI (CEO)
- RONALD L ROSETTO (President)
- STEVE WILLIS (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- PAMELA CAPACI (CEO): $138,600 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Hope sheds light, inc. Is a non-profit dedicated to educating youth and families on substance abuse, while supporting resources so every family member in our community understands they are not alone.
What it reported doing in 2025
Hope sheds light, inc. ("hsl") wants children, parents and the entire community to know the dangers of substance abuse and how heroin use and how continued use can ultimately take young lives. Our goal is to create awareness and be a gateway to all agencies that provide support. This is achieved by providing a comprehensive website of resources for related substance abuse agencies, help lines, support groups, and drug rehab facilities. Additional educational resources are provided to help the community in understanding addiction, knowing the signs, taking the first step to seek help, finding hope and identifying ongoing support groups. We work to help those struggling with the disease of addiction as well as their families and the community at large. By the close of 2025, hsl has directly touched the lives of countless individuals. Hsl has also engaged in an extensive public awareness campaign in the greater ocean county, nj area.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 89.3%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $45.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: 5.1%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.6%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 23.7% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 20.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85% of revenue deployed · 89.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.