Sarah's Circle

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363043662
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7737281014
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Shelters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,013,573
Expenses
$7,116,918
Assets
$65,585,352
Liabilities
$13,098,514

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KATHERINE RAGNAR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JUDY KRUEGER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KATHERINE RAGNAR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $257,086 total reported compensation
  • JAMES GRUTSCH (SR DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & PROPERTIES): $160,371 total reported compensation
  • ANGELA LOPEZ (SR DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM SERVICES): $144,472 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Sarah's circle provides a full continuum of services for women, including housing, life necessities, and supportive services, to help them permanently end their homelessness.

What it reported doing in 2024

Permanent supportive housing - the organization provides permanent supportive housing to women who have a disabling condition who have been chronically homeless. Some women in this program were homeless for over a decade before being housed. Each woman in the program is provided with a housing subsidy, intensive case management, and other individualized supportive services to help her improve her health, well-being, and self-sufficiency. This type of housing has been proven to improve outcomes for the most difficult to serve individuals and reduce public costs for jails, emergency rooms, and other crisis services. In 2020, sarah's circle implemented a rapid rehousing program. This program, funded via cares funds, is designed to move clients quickly from homelessness to permanent housing.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • 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: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 28.9%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.22; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.3% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $257K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.