Humane Educational Society of Chattanooga Tennessee Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
620478240
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Chattanooga, TN, USA
Phone
4236245302
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,902,791
Expenses
$3,631,509
Assets
$9,805,150
Liabilities
$288,319

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JIM KENNEDY (PRESIDENT)
  • CYNTHIA HALL (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • TAI FEDERICO DVM (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR(START 1/13/25))
  • REBECCA BRYAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (ENDED 1/13/25))

Highest reported compensation

  • SARAH CALLAHAN (VETERINARIAN): $130,092 total reported compensation
  • REBECCA BRYAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (ENDED 1/13/25)): $124,420 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Humane educational society is a nonprofit animal shelter that provides a safe haven for homeless, neglected, and abused animals in unincorporated hamilton county, soddy daisy, collegedale, and walden.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our adoption program is successful in that we adopted out, transported, or reunited 2,757 animals from our facility. We have maintained a live release rate of 91.02%. Hes raises funds for general operations and funds for our special needs program. General funds are used in standard care for animals including spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, and physical exams for each animal. Special needs provides care for animals needing heartworm treatment, emergency surgery, or non-standard care treatments.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 60% 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

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.85 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 95%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -25.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.7; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 20 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.