Santa Barbara Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
951643377
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Phone
8059648326
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Reported finances

Revenue
$9,360,565
Expenses
$9,427,987
Assets
$52,166,442
Liabilities
$922,704

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KERRI BURNS (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KERRI BURNS (CEO): $289,706 total reported compensation
  • KATIE MARRIE (CHIEF VETERINARY OFFICER): $212,022 total reported compensation
  • DORI VILLALON (CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER): $192,389 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Santa barbara humane operates two campuses located in santa barbara and santa maria providing care for community-owned and homeless animals. Both campuses offer affordable high quality veterinary care, compassionate behavior training programs, and a relinquishment program for owners who can no longer care for their pets. Homeless animals receive medical care, shelter, and basic behavior training until their adoption.

What it reported doing in 2025

Sheltering and adoptions: our shelter receives animals from a variety of sources: owner-surrenders, transfers, and strays. Each animal that arrives requires basic medical care, and most need sterilization surgery before they can be adopted. A significant portion of our program expenses is devoted to ensuring these animals live in a safe and healthy environment. Our dedicated staff provides comprehensive care, including veterinary treatment and medication; behavior assessment and training; nourishing food; daily socialization, exercise, and enrichment; and the supplies needed for seamless shelter adoptions. In 2025, we took in 1,024 animals surrendered by their owners, 960 cats and dogs from overcrowded shelters across California, and 420 local stray animals. Thanks to the individualized, quality care they received at santa barbara humane, 2,223 animals found loving homes in 2025.

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

SUPPORTED - 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: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -0.7%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.53; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.8%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.9% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 74.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $290K · 18 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $244K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.