Charity Navigator - Rating for Vera House Inc.

Vera House Inc.

Proceed with Caution

79%

Three-Star Charity

Impact & Measurement

Accountability & Finance

Culture & Community

Leadership & Adaptability

Vera House Inc.

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501(c)(3) organization

Donations are tax-deductible

WWW.VERAHOUSE.ORG

723 JAMES ST SYRACUSE NY 13203-2001

315-425-0818

SYRACUSE NY | IRS ruling year: 1977 | EIN: 51-0201530

An EIN is a unique nine-digit number that identifies a business for tax purposes.

Rating Information

Good

This charity's score is 79%, earning it a Three-Star rating.

This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 44% Accountability & Finance, 56% Impact & Measurement. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.

Historical Ratings

Charity Navigator's ratings previously did not consider Leadership & Adaptability, Culture & Community, or Impact & Measurement. The historic rating mainly reflects a version of today’s Accountability and Finance score. More information on our previous rating methodologies can be found on our rating methodology page.

Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!

Proceed with Caution—Reported Other Material Investigation

On August 24, 2022, CNY Central reported that Vera House Inc. is the subject of an active investigation in an article titled, "Vera House must pay back $64K over sex offender hiring, federal investigation underway." For more information regarding this matter, please see CNY Central article.

On September 9, 2022, CNY Central published an article titled "Vera House cancels annual gala amid investigation into hiring sex offender." For more information, please see CNY Central article
On September 14, 2022, CNY Central published an article titled "Vera House Director of Advocacy who helped hire sex offender resigns from agency." For more information, please see CNY Central article
On September 15, 2022, CNY Central published an article titled "Vera House Board denies remaining leader was part of decision to hire sex offender." For more information, please see CNY Central article
On October 24, 2023, CNY Central published an article titled "New Vera House CEO silent as agency launches new domestic violence prevention campaign." For more information, please see CNY Central article
On July 12, 2024, CNY Central published an article titled "Syracuse mayor has seen 'a lot of change' within Vera House since scandal 2 years ago." For more information, please see CNY Central article

For more information about our alerts methodology, see here.

Accountability & Finance

Score

96

Most Recent Fiscal Year:
FY 2023

This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.

Learn more

Key Accountability Metrics

Full Credit

Partial Credit

No Credit

Majority Independent Board Members - 100% independent members

8 out of 8 points

Source: IRS Form 990

Independent Board Size - 12 independent members

7 out of 7 points

Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. For most organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least three independent board members. For large, donor-funded organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least five independent board members

Source: IRS Form 990

Financial Statements - Audit and Oversight Committee

15 out of 15 points

An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:

Total Revenue Amount	Expectation to Receive Credit
$2 million or higher and 40% or higher donor support	Expected to complete an audit and have an audit oversight committee
$1 million or higher	Expected to complete an audit
$500,000 - $1 million	Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation
Less than $500,000	No expectation (removed from scoring methodology)

Source: IRS Form 990

Material Diversion of Assets - None

10 out of 10 points

A diversion of assets — any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft — also can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We review the charity's most recent IRS Form 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets.

Source: IRS Form 990

Tax Form Disclosures and Policies

Full Credit

Partial Credit

No Credit

Website Listed on Tax Form - Listed

2 out of 2 points

Charity Navigator looks for a website on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.

Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.

Source: IRS Form 990

Conflict of Interest Policy - Listed

4 out of 4 points

Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.

This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.

Source: IRS Form 990

Whistleblower Policy - Listed

4 out of 4 points

Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.

This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.

Source: IRS Form 990

Document Retention and Destruction - Listed

4 out of 4 points

Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.

This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.

Source: IRS Form 990

Documents Board Meeting Minutes - Yes

2 out of 2 points

Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the IRS Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.

An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.

Source: IRS Form 990

Website Disclosures

Full Credit

Partial Credit

No Credit

Form 990 indicates tax form is available on nonprofit's website - No

0 out of 4 points

For almost all charities, we check the charity's IRS Form 990 to see if it discloses that the Form 990 is available on the charity's website. As with the audited financial statement, donors need easy access to this financial report to help determine if the organization is managing its financial resources well.

Source: IRS Form 990

Financial Metrics

Full Credit

Partial Credit

No Credit

Liabilities to Assets Ratio: 25.73%

15 out of 15 points

The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent IRS Form 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization's solvency and/or long-term sustainability.

Source: IRS Form 990

Program Expense Ratio: 87.45%

25 out of 25 points

The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three IRS Forms 990). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.

Source: IRS Form 990

Additional Information

Total Revenue and Expenses - Data Available

This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.

Click or hover over the bar to see exact $ amount

Salary of Key Persons - Data Available

The compensation data below shows the five highest paid individuals at this charity. The amount includes salary, cash bonuses, and compensation from related organizations. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2.

Daquetta P Jones, Chief Executive Officer

$63,019

Dawn Penson, 1st Vice President

Kamesha Graves, Director

Kyle Metzler, 2nd Vice President

Monica Coles, Director

Additionally, we highlight the ratio between the highest-paid employee and the average compensation across the nonprofit to determine whether compensation practices reflect industry standards while supporting the nonprofit's mission.

The compensation ratio for this nonprofit is -158 which indicates the highest paid employee earns -158 times more than the average staff member. Our data show the high-average compensation ratio for medium to super-sized charities is expected to fall between 1 and 24.

Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2023

IRS Published Data (Business Master File) - Data Available

Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website

Foundation Status:

Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)

Affiliation:

Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)

Data Sources (IRS Forms 990) - Data Available

The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage accountability and finance data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Vera House Inc.) or EIN (510201530) in the 'Search Term' field.