Thats What Friends Are for Inc C/o Lorna Barrett
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 262223839
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
- Location
- Augusta, GA, USA
- Phone
- 7067262559
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $496,676
- Expenses
- $414,374
- Assets
- $135,669
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
People named in this filing
- LORNA S BARRETT (CHAIRMAN)
- MEREDITH BOBENCHIK (SECRETARY)
- TARA FORD ROMES (BOARD MEMBER)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We recognize that dog and cat overpopulation is a major burden on our communities resulting in many unwanted animals. The most effective way to prevent this is sterilization; therefore, our goal is to spay and neuter as many animals as possible. We are a fundraising and networking organization, dedicated to raising funds for animal rescue work, including but not limited to the spay and neuter of dogs and cats. We promote camaraderie and networking amoung animal rescue groups and individuals involved in improving animal welfare. Our plan is to work to bring in more funding so that we can be a bigger part of the solution the the problem of animal homelessness and continue to reduce the shelter intake and euthanasia rates in our local communities. The funds we raise are used to assist with expenses for sterilization, vaccines, and extreme medical procedures needed to save or improve the quality of life for companion animals.
What it reported doing in 2025
Spay/neuter program - to provide as many no cost, or low cost, spay/neuter vouchers to pet owners and rescue groups to help cover the costs associated with spay, neuter, and vaccines for companion animals, and work with several local veterinarians that give us reduced pricing to help stretch our donated dollars. This keeps pets in homes and helps to get rescued animals ready for adoption. Tnr - trap, neuter, return - is part of our spay neuter program and provides vouchers for the spay or neuter, rabies vaccines and ear-tipping of feral or outdoor living cats that are then returned to their outdoor homes, healthy and unable to reproduce. In 2025 we provided assistance to 556 cats spayed, 525 cats neutered, 633 tnr male cats, 803 tnr female cats, 173 dogs spayed, 93 dogs neutered, and 2786 animals that had rabies.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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.
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: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 99.8%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.6%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 99.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $414K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.