Humane Society of Grand Forks Dba Circle of Friends Animal Shelter

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237367340
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Grand Forks, ND, USA
Phone
7017753732
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$716,763
Expenses
$665,367
Assets
$1,593,583
Liabilities
$482,989

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

People named in this filing

  • BRAD SHERWOOD (CHAIR)
  • CINDY FILLER (DIRECTOR)
  • BRAD BEEHLER (DIRECTOR)

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

The mission of the cicrle of friends animal shelter is to enrich the lives of pets through healing, education and connecting companions.

What it reported doing in 2025

One of the most important aspects of circle of friends animal shelter is our adoption program. The pets sheltered at our facility need a furever companion. They are invaluable as loyal companions and beloved friends who deserve our respect and devotion. Our goal is to place each of our pets in permanent, loving homes to live with their human companion for their life. All animals leaving our shelter have been spayed or neutered, microchipped and are current on vaccinations. This year 1,260 animals came to the shelter. Of those, 793 were adopted and 374 were returned to their owners. We partner with the grand forks police department to reunite pets with their owners. We also provide safekeeping for pets that need a place to stay while the owner is unable to provide care due to unexpected circumstances. This year we temporarily cared for 85 pets. Fostering is a terrific way to help save a life. Through fostering, kennel space is freed up, which allows us to help more animals. By fostering, you will get to know that animal's personality. This will help us when it comes to placing them into a permanent, loving home. This year 241 pets were placed in foster care. The circle of friends animal shelter believes it is one of our greatest responsibilities to offer animal welfare education to further our mission to help pets and people in our community. We offer education about proper pet care, issues impacting our shelter pets, and how we can all create a safer, more compassionate world for both pets and people alike. We had over 9 children and volunteer groups that came to interact with the pets, make blankets and learn about animal welfare. Volunteers are essential to the success of organization. Our volunteers play a huge role in furthering our mission to ensure every animal that comes through our doors gets the wonderful life they deserve. This year, our volunteers provided over 2,000 volunteer hours.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 92.2%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 7.2%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.4; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.3% of revenue deployed · 92.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $614K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.