Sheltering Arms

Legal name: The Sheltering Arms Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
580566236
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Gainesville, GA, US
Phone
(770) 534-1112
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$27,443,251
Expenses
$28,717,063
Assets
$30,430,659
Liabilities
$7,243,529

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Blythe Robinson (President/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Blythe Robinson (President/CEO): $256,795 total reported compensation
  • Theresa Prestwood (Chief Development & Communicat): $184,411 total reported compensation
  • Norman Hill (Chief People Officer): $127,920 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 provide a safe, nurturing, and stable home environment for children in crisis, empowering them to heal and thrive.

What it reported doing in 2025

Head start and early head start: each day, the sheltering arms serves over 3,500 children in 16 centers in 5 metro atlanta counties from 0-5 in our head start (hs) and early head start (e/hs) program. Hs and e/hs play a key role in preparing our children for school. Our teachers, classrooms and family support program, combined with supervised interaction with other children, help a growing child develop important social and emotional skills, as well as a healthy concept of their personal identity. Our family support program which uses the two generation approach focuses on the entire family by equally and intentionally providing services and opportunities for the parent and the child. Our organization also addressed the health, safety, and financial strain brought on by the global covid-19 pandemic. We've committed staff time and financial resources to ensure we have proper protocols and procedures in place to ensure the safety and health of the child we serve and all our employees.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 67% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.9%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $26.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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; 64th 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: -4.6%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 89.9% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $24.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $257K · 30 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $221K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.