Sojourner House Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
050370419
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Providence, RI, USA
Phone
4018616809
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,908,533
Expenses
$10,044,300
Assets
$10,529,362
Liabilities
$1,359,361

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KERSTI YLLO (PRESIDENT)
  • MARY HALPIN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • VANESSA VOLZ (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • VANESSA VOLZ (PRESIDENT & CEO): $245,775 total reported compensation
  • KELLY HENRY (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM): $135,991 total reported compensation
  • GLORIA GREENFIELD (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF OPERATI): $125,634 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To promote healthy relationships by providing culturally sensitive support, advocacy, education, and housing for victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking; and to effect systems change.

What it reported doing in 2024

Drop-in / community services / education: sojourner house operates a drop-in advocacy and resource center in providence, ri, where clients can access emotional support, support groups, clinical therapy, health and wellness services, legal services, and other supportive programs. During fiscal year 2025, we provided 30,258 supportive sessions across our community programs for a total of 6,875 hours. There were 21,346 supportive sessions across our housing programs for a total of 11,495 hours. A total of 376 clients received clinical services through 1,235 sessions covering 1,864 hours. We provided 240 community health screenings and outreach to 1,164 community members through wellness education, prevention, and resource connection services. We also facilitated 15 support groups serving 112 clients across 1,818 hours, and 765 clients received basic needs support.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 82% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 - 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: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.7%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $27.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th 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: Pass
    • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 27.8%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.05; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.5%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.7% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $8.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $246K · 28 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.