Mary's Shelter
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 232722494
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Reading, PA, USA
- Phone
- 6103761973
- Rating
- 91
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,519,409
- Expenses
- $1,774,704
- Assets
- $7,110,541
- Liabilities
- $952,625
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- FRANK WATTS (PRESIDENT)
- BRENTON HAUPT (VICE PRESIDENT)
- CHRISTINE FOLK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTINE FOLK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $133,759 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mary's shelter is committed to empowering homeless youth by providing housing, education, and social service programs.
What it reported doing in 2025
History: mary's shelter opened in 1995 and is a maternity home, which serves the needs of homeless, pregnant young women. Many of the residents have multiple home life problems with little or no support for the present pregnancy. The vision of mary's shelter is to provide temporary housing and primary care where each resident is offered life-changing assistance through quality, comprehensive care in a secure, comfortable, and supportive environment.in response to the growing concern and staggering numbers of homeless and runaway youth in berks county mary's shelter joined forces with the berks county intermediate unit, education for children and youth experiencing homelessness (ecyeh) and the berks coalition to end homelessness youth committee to find and initiate solutions. Mary's shelter received several grants to open the yess (youth empowerment support services) residential program and drop-in-center to address the immediate needs of young people living on the streets. Youth servicesofficially began in february of 2018. The residential program serves young people between the ages of 14 and 17, and the drop-in-center serves young people between the ages of 14 and 22.the board of directors is the governing body of mary's shelter. Their primary objectives are to implement program and organizational policies, uphold the mission and philosophy, and provide vision and direction for future growth. The staff of mary's shelter manages theday-to-day operations and provides direct care and services to the young women who reside at the facilities. The volunteers actively support current projects including fundraising, client activities, or improving the facilities. Volunteer support is a vital component to the program and services.program services: what makes the program unique is the focus on comprehensive services. Upon entering the program at mary's shelter, the case manager, counselor, and resident establish long-term and short-term goals. The primary areas of focus are medical care, life-skills training, personal counseling, education, and future housing. These goals are reviewed and updated with the residents on a regular basis. Goals are written with associated measurable tasks. Residents are given a timetable for completion and evaluation.analysis: the young people who seek housing and supportive services from mary's shelter are experiencing multiple personal life problems and obstacles that hinder their progress toward independence. The case management services focus primarily on assisting the clients with the tasks related to completing goals and objectives with regard to their medical care, education, and housing, thereby addressing the issues of homelessness, low pay, and low achievement. The counseling services focus on assisting the clients with internal obstacles to success suchas low self-esteem, low expectations, anxiety, depression, and management of mental health disorders."2025 achievements: our maternity home programs- housed 3 women ages 16 to 18, their newborns and three toddlers- enrolled 15 expectant women in our homeless prevention program, which assist with maintaining safe and stable housing while preparing for childbirth- family outreach services provided to 855 expectant women with over 7,550 visits for material needs, counseling, and supportive servicesour youth programs yess youth ages 14 to 17 housed for 21-days- 45 individual youth representing over 1,549 sheltered nights- 65% family reunification with ongoing support from mary's shelter- 106 drop-in and call-in youth needing intensive case managementstrong - youth ages 16 to 21 housed for 18 months. - 28 individual youth representing over 15,150 sheltered nightsprogram successes: - 6 high school graduation, 8 advanced a grade level- 8 with high school diplomas engaged in career training and employment programs- 100% received trauma-informed care and advocacy services- 85% increased school attendance- 91% received medical, eye and dental care- 68% rec
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 89.2%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 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: -16.8%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.01; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $134K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.