PAWS Chicago

What it reported doing in 2024

Community engagement community engagement is the foundation for creating lasting change for animals and is the basis upon which all of paws chicago's programs are built. People cause the pet overpopulation problem and people have the power to solve it; animals are the voiceless victims. The way to inspire and create real change for animals is to mobilize people to be their caretakers and advocates and provide needed support in under-resourced communities.when paws chicago was founded in 1997, the mass killing of homeless pets was a hidden crisis. The public had no idea that more than 42,000 homeless cats and dogs would be euthanized in the city of chicago that year. Paws chicago was founded to bring attention to the plight of these vulnerable animals and to mobilize public support to develop humane solutions and build no kill communities. Shining a light on pet overpopulation and homelessness- and the resultant killing- has mobilized tens of thousands of people to get involved in the cause by adopting, fostering, volunteering, advocating for and donating to homeless pets.with its no kill model in action, paws chicago is leading a movement that ripples throughout the country. Every year, paws chicago welcomes shelters, rescue groups and individuals nationwide to shadow its operations. Paws chicago also helps start-up adoption/rescue groups and spay/neuter clinics around the world. In chicago, paws helps chicago-area rescue groups and shelters by providing low-cost medical services at the lurie spay/neuter clinic and by increasing exposure of their homeless animals through angels with tails adoption events.by raising awareness about pet homelessness and engaging people in lifesaving efforts, paws chicago makes lasting change for animals. This includes paws chicago magazine, with a distribution of 115,000; the paws chicago website, with more than 1.5 million unique users and 20 million pageviews in 2024; and the paws chicago e-newsletter, with a monthly distribution averaging 179,000 and an open-rate of more than 50%. These vehicles inspire people to take action for animals and become advocates for homeless pets.360@cacc and outreach2024 was the first year of paws chicago's 360@cacc program, a robust 360-degree partnership with chicago animal care & control (cacc), the city's impoundment facility. Of the 18% increase in intake or 2,295 additional cats and dogs coming into cacc in 2024 - 1,875 additional animals had a positive "live" outcome (adoptions, transfers and returned to owner) over 2023. Without this increased lifesaving, euthanasia would have increased by 82%. Instead, euthanasia was up 14%. 360@cacc is oriented at increasing these live outcomes and helping keep pets out of the city shelter through:1) paws chicago medical programs that provide spay/neuter surgeries and other medical care to ensure cacc pets are vetted and ready for adoption. The rescue ready program helps increase transfers of cacc pets to rescue groups by offering highly subsidized medical care and spay/neuter surgeries for pets that came from cacc. The big fix program transports cacc pets to the paws chicago lurie spay/neuter clinic each week to be spayed/neutered and vetted. Together, these programs spayed or neutered 1,336 cacc pets. 39 different rescue groups transferred in animals who were spayed or neutered through these programs and, overall, cacc transfers increased by 19%.2) the adoption expansion program staffs a full-time paws chicago employee at cacc to support prospective adopters in finding and adopting a pet. The cacc budget has never had a staffed resource dedicated to adoptions, which means people would often leave without a pet. With this additional support, cacc facilitated 3,019 adoptions in 2024, a 28.6% increase over 2023.3) pet owner support, where paws chicago team members meet families at the door and help keep pets in their homes with the families who love them or otherwise prevent more pets from entering the crowded city shelt

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 56%; rating input score 56
• Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
• Fundraising efficiency: $21.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • 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: 96%; rating input score 96; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: 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: 54.5%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.03; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings