CharityWatch currently has concerns about this organization and/or is unable to provide complete rating information due to the organization's nondisclosure of financial information. Please see the Analysts' Notes section for a more detailed explanation.
CharityWatch is unable to provide a range of Top Three Salaries for this charity for the above fiscal reporting year because we lack complete salary data for the organization. Except for officers, directors, and trustees, the IRS does not require breakouts of salaries totaling less than $100,000.
For example, XYZ charity would be required to provide a breakout in its tax form of compensation to its president of $55,000, but would not be required to provide a breakout of $99,000 in compensation to its top medical researcher if that person is not also an officer, director, or trustee of the organization.
This charity reports that compensation to its officers, directors, and trustees is under $100,000 per individual. Donors who would like to view limited salary data for this organization should refer to its tax form, which may be available on the charity's web site or from a number of third-party sources. See CharityWatch's Links page for information on obtaining copies of charity tax forms.
CharityWatch is unable to provide a letter grade rating for Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals (D.E.L.T.A. Rescue) at this time due to being unable to obtain complete financial information for the organization and because of our concerns about its IRS tax Form 990 reporting. For this reason, CharityWatch has assigned a "?" to the charity for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. CharityWatch has been unable to locate audited financial statements for the organization for fiscal 2022. In its 2022 IRS Tax Form 990, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue responds "yes" to the question, "Were the organization's financial statements audited by an independent accountant?" However, it failed to check the box indicating if these financial statements were audited on a separate and/or consolidated basis. (IRS Form 990, Part XII, Question 2b) CharityWatch has been unable to locate a fiscal 2022 audit of the organization on its website or from public sources. CharityWatch has identified two additional 501(c)(3) public charities with the same 3 board members as D.E.L.T.A. Rescue. The related organizations include Horse Rescue of America (Tax ID#95-4342386) and Living Earth Productions (Tax ID#95-4287079). The 3 board members reported for all 3 organizations include Leo Grillo, Founder/President; Charles Leonard, Board of Directors; and John Rustin, Board of Directors. The latter two board members are also reported to be officers of all 3 organizations, but job titles are not disclosed in any of the tax filings. Horse Rescue of America and Living Earth Productions are reported as related organizations in D.E.L.T.A. Rescue's 2022 IRS Form 990, Schedule R, Transactions With Related Organizations. In fiscal 2022, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue reports granting $339,478 and $1,602,172 to Horse Rescue of America and Living Earth Productions, respectively. This $1,941,650 in grants to related organizations comprises 25.8% of D.E.L.T.A. Rescue's total reported expenses of $7,513,588 and 27% of its reported program spending for 2022. According to the 2022 tax filings of the related organizations, the financial statements of these two related organizations were not audited by an independent accountant in 2022. Because IRS tax Forms 990 are not audited according to Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) and are not required to be presented according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the United States, they are less reliable and may be of limited use when attempting to discern the efficiency with which a charity is operating. IRS Form 990 reporting is frequently incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent, and/or incomparable, and for this reason, analyzing a charity's audited financial statements is a critical component in any meaningful charity evaluation. Living Earth Productions reports that its total revenue for the year January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 amounted to $123,812. This contradicts D.E.L.T.A. Rescue's IRS Tax Form 990 reporting for the same period in which it reports granting $1,602,172 to Living Earth Productions. In addition, Living Earth Productions reports that its total net assets decreased during 2022 by $407,864 from the prior year and that it spent only $531,676 during 2022. Meaning, it is unclear what happened to $1,478,360 of the grant money D.E.L.T.A. Rescue claims it granted to Living Earth Productions in 2022. Living Earth Productions does not include a Schedule R, Transactions With Related Organizations, in its 2022 IRS Form 990 tax filing. Living Earth Productions reported total net assets of $6,019,301 as of December 31, 2022. Based on its fiscal 2022 cash spending of $531,676, it could continue to operate for 11 years without raising another penny of revenue. The charity's primary expenses in 2022 consisted of $433,229 in "Production expense" and an additional $43,767 in "Production," according to its IRS tax Form 990 of the same year. Living Earth Productions reports its "mission or most significant activities" as including "Video development, production & distribution..." Horse Rescue of America reports its mission as "Rescue and care of abused, neglected and abandoned horses and burros." This charity's financial activities are reported on a fiscal year basis that includes the period July 1st through June 30th each year versus calendar year. The charity reported total revenue of $460,948 and $331,245 in fiscal 2023 and 2022, respectively, and reported on its revenue statements that $0 of either amount was received from a related organization (IRS Form 990, Part VIII, line 1d). In its 2022 Form 990 D.E.L.T.A. Rescue reports that it granted Horse Rescue of America $339,478 during calendar year 2022. (IRS Form 990, Schedule R) Horse Rescue of America does include a Schedule R, Transactions With Related Organizations, in its IRS tax Forms 990 for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. However, it reports that it made grants to D.E.L.T.A. Rescue in the amounts of $460,948 and $331,240 in fiscal years 2023 and 2022, respectively, not that it received grants from D.E.L.T.A. Rescue. The 3 officers and directors of each organization are reported as receiving $0 compensation in 2022 from D.E.L.T.A. Rescue, Horse Rescue of America, or Living Earth Productions. In the fiscal 2022 tax filings of the related organizations, Leo Grillo is reported as working 40 hours per week for D.E.L.T.A. Rescue, 2 hours per week for Horse Rescue of America, and 40 hours per week for Living Earth Productions, for a total of 82 hours per week. Such compensation reporting can be a red flag since it is highly unusual for a charity employee to work more than 80 hours per week while receiving zero compensation. It creates a concern that the tax form reporting may be incorrect and/or that an employee might be compensated by a charity in a way not required to be reported in Part VII of the tax filing (IRS Tax Form 990, Part VII, Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, Highest Compensated Employees, and Independent Contractors) In its 2022 tax filing, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue's highest 3 expenses are reported as $1,573,223 for Contract services, $1,152,172 Educational, and $1,168,251 Food. (IRS Form 990, Part IX, Line 24e, All Other Expenses) With respect to Contract services, the charity does not include the $1,573,223 in its reporting of Fees for services (nonemployees). (IRS Tax Form 990, Part IX, lines 11a-g) In addition, the charity reports that no independent contractor received more than $100,000 of compensation from the organization (IRS Form 990, Part VII) In Part V of its 2022 tax filing the charity reports including 57 forms on its IRS tax Form 1096, Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Informational Returns. The purpose of the Form 1096 is to report non-employee income. Charities are not required to disclose the names of people who received non-employee income from the organization. |