Sunrise Horse Rescue

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
421746834
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
St Helena, CA, USA
Phone
7073914311
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Animal Protection and Welfare

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$672,678
Expenses
$566,763
Assets
$627,510
Liabilities
$34,417

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARY TAYLOR (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • LISA O'CONNOR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FROM 9/25))

Highest reported compensation

  • LISA O'CONNOR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FROM 9/25)): $42,988 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 rescue and provide sanctuary for abused and neglected horses in napa and surrounding counties, educate the public about current issues affecting horse welfare, and provide community members with the unique benefit of equine assisted learning and therapy.

What it reported doing in 2025

Equine assisted learning (eal): is an experiential learning approach that utilizes interactions with horses to promote personal growth, develop life skills, and enhance emotional well-being. In 2024, sunrise horse rescue facilitated 17 eal program events with various communities: connected horse (equine-assisted workshops and training that inspire connection and engagement and improve the lives of those impacted by dementia together with their care partners), theboys & girls club, crestwood behavioralhealthcenter, upvalleyfamilycenter, and local senior groups. These events provided community members with the unique benefit of equine assisted learning and therapy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.6%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 78%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 15.7%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.6%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 30.4% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.6% of revenue deployed · 78% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $442K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $43K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.