Nine Lives Foundation DBA Nine Lives

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202150714
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Redwood City, CA, USA
Phone
6503681365
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Veterinary Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,134,031
Expenses
$2,766,409
Assets
$6,232,784
Liabilities
$2,091,949

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Joanne McDermott (President)
  • Janaina Pilomia (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Liam Montgomery (Executive Dir.): $200,509 total reported compensation
  • Monica Ramirez (Lead Surgical Vet.): $130,313 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating a cat-onlyclinic and adoption center. We rescue at-risk cats and kittens, provide them withclinical care and nurturing to address their medical and behavioral needs and findthem loving forever homes. We are committed to addressing the overpopulation ofhomeless cats by providing low-cost spay and neuter services for those in ourcommunity.

What it reported doing in 2025

Medical Clinic - Low Cost Veterinary Services: Nine Lives provides low-cost spay/neuter for feral cats (Trap-Neuter-Return), the general public, and over 50 foster-based rescue partners that intake cats and find them adoptive homes. We also offer low-cost vaccinations, microchips, and other veterinary services. In 2025 we completed 6,518 spay/neuter surgeries, making us by far the largest spay/neuter clinic for cats in our area and beyond. We also administered over 10,000 vaccines and implanted 3,000 microchips.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 54
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 43.7%; rating input score 44
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.62 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th 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: 46.1%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.25; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 43.7% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $201K · 9 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $264K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.