Horses' Honor

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
751549614
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Lincoln, CA, USA
Phone
5303059678
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$474,317
Expenses
$186,011
Assets
$424,417
Liabilities
$1,996

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nina Thompson (President)

People named in this filing

  • Nina Thompson (President)
  • Eric Thompson (CFO)
  • Phyllis Fanning (Treasurer/Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Horses Honor provides sanctuary in a safe, natural environment to horses that would otherwise face likely slaughter or unnecesary euthanasia. Since 1999, Horses Honor has been a sanctuary for horses rescued from neglect, abuse, or shipment to slaughter.

What it reported doing in 2025

Horses Honor is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting horses in need, focusing on senior horses who have no advocates. It provides life-time sanctuary in a safe, natural environment to horses who would otherwise face continued neglect, slaughter, or unneccesary euthanasia. Horses Honor also serves as a resource to individuals and agencies assisting horses and promoting awareness of the plight of unwanted and abandoned horses. The horses are at home on 83 beautiful acres in the sierra foothills near Lincoln Ca, an absolute paradise for horses with irrigated and season pastures, huge trees, a barn, arena, pond, and ample hay storage. All of the horses have access to roam with trees, shelter and companionship. No horse is stall- bound unless a medical emergency calls for confinement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 54
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34.6%; rating input score 35
  • Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $66.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 60.8%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.28; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 34.6% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $163K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.