House of Hope Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042867965
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Lowell, MA, USA
- Phone
- 9784582870
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Homeless Shelters
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,726,247
- Expenses
- $5,396,014
- Assets
- $12,422,660
- Liabilities
- $3,631,546
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DAN O'CONNOR (VICE-PRESIDENT)
- JEFF BUSH (PRESIDENT)
- JULIE LEMIRE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 1/1/25 - PRESENT)
Highest reported compensation
- DEBORAH CHAUSSE (EXECUTIVE ADVISOR (EXEC.DIRECTOR 7/1/24 -12/31/24)): $154,676 total reported compensation
- JULIE LEMIRE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 1/1/25 - PRESENT): $149,424 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
House of hope, a temporary shelter, provides advocacy and care for homeless individuals and families. Rooted in a belief in god, and under direction of an ecumenical board, it seeks to affirm the dignity of life to all who are served.
What it reported doing in 2024
Providing temporary, overnight shelter, food and maintenance for needy persons regardless of race, creed, color and sex. Provided emergency shelter and services to 146 families, a total of 403 people (202 children, 201 adults); 9% of families had a history of domestic violence. The average length of stay for families who exited was 213 days.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 78% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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 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: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.9%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 81.5%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th 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: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: 5.8%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.3; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.9% of revenue deployed · 81.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $155K · 22 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.