Women's Advocates Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237310701
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6517265213
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Shelters

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,877,431
Expenses
$5,358,683
Assets
$10,223,852
Liabilities
$596,891

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • HOLLY HENNING (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • HOLLY HENNING (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $177,687 total reported compensation
  • JACOB DE VERA (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR): $140,480 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of women's advocates is to walk with victim/survivors and our community to break the cycle of domestic violence.

What it reported doing in 2024

Shelter food and facilitiesfor 50 years, providing safe shelter for victim-survivors of domestic violence has been at the heart of women's advocates' mission. Emergency shelter provides victim-survivors of domestic violence and their children with up to 90 days of safe respite shelter with meals and supportive services. Our shelter space consists of 15 bedrooms, 7 resident bathrooms, and a commercial kitchen where three meals each day are prepared for our residents seeking shelter and safety from abusive situations. Residents have access to laundry facilities, personal computers, a living room, dining room, and secure children's playground. Our emergency shelter programs served 236 individuals in fy 2024-2025, including 119 adults and 117 children with an 86-day average length of stay. Shelter food & facilities provides a secure, safe home for residents. Sheila wellstone children's program and lean on me youth intervention offers drop-in childcare services, after-school homework space, educational advocacy with schools, youth mentorship, recreational activities, and healing supports to help meet the socio-emotional needs of children who have witnessed domestic violence. Housing stability services are available to victim-survivors and their children exiting the shelter. Former residents receive support to continue navigating legal systems, housing challenges, employment searches, and targeted community support.

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 86% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 75.9%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.1%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.91; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60% of revenue deployed · 75.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $178K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $209K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.