Petra Cares

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
883058909
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Cypress, TX, USA
Phone
7138565700
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Vocational, Technical Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,139,139
Expenses
$712,959
Assets
$955,412
Liabilities
$9,757

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Arnold Gacita (President & CEO)
  • Sam Diaz (Vice President)
  • Brian Meza (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Brian Meza (Executive Director): $100,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Unlocking purpose for the vulnerable by removing barriers to educate and empower young people who are aging out of the foster care system, homeless, and at-risk.

What it reported doing in 2025

Petra Cares empowers vulnerable young adults, ages 17-24, by providing workforce training, life skills, mentoring, & career placement that lead to stable employment & long-term self-sufficiency. Through hands-on automotive technician training & wraparound support, we help young people overcome barriers & build meaningful careers. We impacted 150 trainees, with a 78% graduation rate & a 72% job placement rate. We also partnered with ASE to offer industry standard certification. Students received ASE certification.

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

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: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 49.7%; rating input score 50
  • Program expense ratio: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd 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; 64th 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: 37.4%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.34; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 40.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 57.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 63.6% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 49.7% of revenue deployed · 79.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $565K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.