PAWS Animal Adoption Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237423028
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Rockport, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2072368702
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $954,861
- Expenses
- $1,224,725
- Assets
- $2,394,198
- Liabilities
- $195,278
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Shelly Butler (Previous Executive Director)
- Casey Baugher (Executive Director)
- Jill Parker (Vice President)
- Michelle Davis (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Shelly Butler (Previous Executive Director): $60,533 total reported compensation
- Casey Baugher (Executive Director): $35,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to provide care for homeless dogs and cats until they can be placed in permanent, responsible homes while promoting humane values in our community through outreach and educational programs.
What it reported doing in 2024
PAWS provides services for homeless cats and dogs, those at-risk of becoming homeless, and pet owners in the twelve communities we serve and in the outlying communities. Additionally, PAWS provides outreach, education and support to pet owners, provides affordable spay/neuter, wellness clinics, and preventatives to pets of low-income residents, rescue cats and dogs from high kill shelters in Georgia and Puerto Rico and advocates both locally and at the state level for animal welfare in our community and statewide.Two of our most important programs are the care of our communities homeless, abused, and abandoned cats and dogs and our PAWS Cares community veterinary clinic for low-income pet owners, including spay and neuter, wellness exams, preventatives, and life-saving vaccines. In 2024 we placed 469 stray & unwanted cats and dogs at the shelter placed 95% of them into forever homes. Additionally, we provided 325 pet owners with free pet food and supplies through the Pet Food Pantry, and performed 914 spay/neuter surgeries for community-owned pets. Provided low-cost veterinary care for 3,690 owned pets in need. Reunited 63 lost pets with their family, saved 82 cats and dogs from being euthanized in high-kill shelters in the south, and assisted 197 pets from low-income households, pets of survivors of domestic violence, pets in need of housing while their owners battle temporary homelessness, and extended stays in the hospital. PAWS provides numerous benefits to our community. We work to humanely address the issues of animal control by partnering with our town and their animal control officers to care for the lost, abandoned, and unwanted cats and dogs.We work with the community at large to match pets with loving homesthrough adoption services and we help provide quality veterinary care to every animal who enters our facility. PAWS maintains a firm commitment to educate the local community on the matters of pet care, animal safety, and the importance of spaying and neutering, animal immunizations, and disease control. Additionally, through various programs and services we help to strengthen the human-animal bond of hundreds of pet owners each year.Today PAWS offers the following programs and services:1.Services for lost and found and stray/at-large dogs and cats2.Owner surrenders to our community members who cannot keep their pets3.Adoption. The care and placement of homeless cats and dogs. It is why we started the organization and why we continue to today. It is paramount to our mission.4.PAWS Cares Clinics AND community wellness programs - this incudes rabies vaccinations and microchipping, preventatives, veterinary exams and Spay/Neuter Program.5.Pet Safe Program - a program to help victims of domestic violence, those experiencing temporary homelessness, and/or have been admitted to the hospital, so they can safely board their pets.6.Foster Program & Fospice Program (hospice for elderly pets)7.A Home for ME - animal transport program with partner rescues in the South (Puerto Rico & GA)8.Home to Home - an alternative to surrendering your pet to the shelter9.Pet Loss Support Group - Online
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.5%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 71.2%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -28.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.95; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 92.5% of revenue deployed · 71.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $873K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $61K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.