Tiny Paws Pug Rescue
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 814830443
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
- Location
- Aptos, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4086910137
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Animal Protection and Welfare
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $398,733
- Expenses
- $392,295
- Assets
- $50,535
- Liabilities
- $56,973
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
People named in this filing
- Kim Smith (Chair/Exec. Dir)
- Ronald Smith (Operations Mngr)
- Virginia Anderson (Director)
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
Our mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome Pugs and their mixes by providing compassionate care, essential medical support, and nurturing foster homes. We are committed to transforming the lives of these dogs and to educating communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Central California about responsible pet ownershipultimately promoting lifelong, loving homes for every dog we serve.
What it reported doing in 2025
Our organization provides rescue services for northern and central California region, rescue and care training for volunteers and adoption events to provide outsourcing of rescued animals.we have an all-volunteer network of 78 people. No one draws salary or compensation.in 2025 we rescued 283 dogs, an increase of 6% over 2024.since 2017 we have rescued a total of 1,662 animals.we run 4 adoption and training events each month in carmel, concord, los gatos, walnut creek.we have fund raiser training events approximately 6 times per year.we attend the holiday and the fourth of july parades for exposure.we are now expanding our reach through meetings with pug rescue organizations in California, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.we use remote rescues to supplement our rescue capacity due to the continued overload in California.we have a large gathering called pug-o-ween in october for each year for all our constituents.
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.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.2%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 1.6%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.13; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.2% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $352K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.