Sammies Friends

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
522439192
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Grass Valley, CA, USA
Phone
5304715041
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,883,467
Expenses
$2,685,293
Assets
$473,546
Liabilities
$202,627

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cheryl Berg (President)
  • Stacey Braudrick (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Fran Cole (Executive Dir.): $48,396 total reported compensation
  • Lynn H Hodson (Executive Dir.): $15,456 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To Care for and Re home animals through foster-first placement, enrichment, and timely adoption, powered by dedicated volunteers, community education, and fundraising that sustains our work.

What it reported doing in 2025

- Operate and manage the Nevada County Animal Shelter under contract to Nevada County. The program services includes sheltering, feeding, adoption services and medical attention to dogs, cats, farm animals and any other stray animals brought to the Shelter. An existing volunteer program assisted the Shelter staff giving the animals daily exercise and socialization services.- Provide funds for the medical care of Shelter animals and disadvantaged animals in Nevada County. - Provide spay/neuter vouchers to low/no income residents of Nevada County. These vouchers can be redeemed at local veterinarians. It is believed that providing these vouchers, many dogs and cats will be altered and thus reduce the number of dogs and cats coming to the Shelter.

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.
  • 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.5%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 91.8%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.9%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.18; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.43; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.5% of revenue deployed · 91.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule M noncash within contributions did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.