Living Amends
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 475370461
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2022
- Location
- Dripping Springs, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7133978474
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Addictive Disorders N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $268,543
- Expenses
- $249,169
- Assets
- $20,089
- Liabilities
- $-11,792
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sharon Sauer (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Margaret Sauer (Marketing Director): $60,006 total reported compensation
- Sharon Sauer (Executive Director): $25,586 total reported compensation
- John Blanchard (Business Development): $4,338 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Living Amends is a non-profit organization supporting those serious about sobriety by trusting God, cleaning house and helping others. About Our Scholarship Program Living Amends understands the system is not perfect, and more clients will relapse than stay sober after residential treatment. Still, we want to support those who beat the odds and are serious about their sobriety. The monthly maximum Living Amends can award any one house is $750.00. We do not give more than one scholarship to each vetted house. At the end of every month we review application and if accepted will email you our terms of the scholarships. The Terms on the email must be agreed to by replying “I agree to terms” before the funds are released directly to the sober living. two people support one another through sobriety.
What it reported doing in 2025
We gave out $48465.31 in scholarships for 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 58
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.8%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 0%; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.2%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 36.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 74.8% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $201K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.