Joy Ranch
Legal name: Joy Ranch Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 540655617
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Woodlawn, VA, United States
- Phone
- 276-236-5578
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Group Homes
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $836,461
- Expenses
- $915,348
- Assets
- $2,986,272
- Liabilities
- $38,088
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- DANNY AUSTIN (EXECUTIVE DI): $80,775 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to provide a safe, caring, and Christ-centered home to meet the spiritual, physical, emotional, and social needs of children in crisis. Facebook Instagram. Each child that comes to us is considered a part of our family, and our cottages are structured as a safe, loving, Christ-centered home environment. Our children are not considered “clients” at Joy Ranch, but rather are viewed as the newest members in the Joy Ranch family who have been entrusted into our care. Joy Ranch provides care for children on a year round, 24-hour per day basis through the consistency of our House Parents, rather than shift workers. Each cottage has a primary house parent couple and a relief house parent couple. These couples model a healthy parent relationship for our kids. Intake Procedure for Admissions.
What it reported doing in 2025
The organization uses its resources to provide housing and services to children who are unable to live with their parents.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 91% 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.
- 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.1%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 88.5%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.26; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 97.1% of revenue deployed · 88.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $810K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.