* All non-professional volunteer service is not recorded in Boston Rescue Mission's audited financial statements. Non-professional volunteer service is shown in the footnotes of the financial statements only.

**BRM Board Restricted Funds for Expansion is privately funded income collected for expansion of future programs, new facilities, and capital improvements.

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View a complete audited financial statement from fiscal year 2023
We also have a summary IRS Form 990 available.
(May require Adobe Reader to view)

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Our federal and Massachusetts state tax ID number is 04-2104726.

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Does the Financial Rating of a Charity Reflect its Level of Success?

In his book Good To Great and the Social Sector, Jim Collins writes:

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"....rating charities based in part on the percentage of budget spent on management, overhead and fundraising...It's a well-intentioned idea, but reflects profound confusion between inputs and outputs. ....The confusion between inputs and outputs stems from one of the primary differences between business and the social sectors. In business, money is both an input (a resource for achieving greatness) and an output (a measure of greatness). In the social sectors, money is only an input and not a measure of greatness. A great organization is one that delivers superior performance and makes a distinctive impact over a long period of time. For a business, financial returns are a perfectly legitimate measure of performance. For a social sector organization, however, performance must be assessed relative to mission, not financial returns. In social sectors, the critical question is not 'How much money do we make per dollar of invested capital?" but "How effectively do we deliver on our mission and make a distinctive impact, relative to our resources?"

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When searching for information about whether a charity will be a responsible fiscal steward of your gift, donors often turn to popular charity ratings services that favor organizations with lower administrative and development costs. This method of evaluation only makes sense if all of the charities involved:

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• Offered the same programs that resulted in the same measurable outcomes

• Received their funding from the same sources

• Reported and allocated their costs and organized their financial statements in the same manner

• Utilized the same ratios of staff and volunteers to provide services

• Are involved in building future organization capacities.

 

The reality is that it's very difficult to collect and compare uniform data from organizations with different physical and financial structures. When comparing financial data across charities, consider these factors:
 

• Charity structures differ. Some charities lease property and equipment, creating higher current program expenses. Others purchase fixed assets, which typically results in lower program expenses as assets depreciate over time. 

• Funding sources differ. Charities that receive much of the funding from public sources have much lower development expenses than organizations of comparable size and mission that receive much of their funding from private sources. 

• In-Kind donations differ. Contributions of professional services (e.g. medical or legal) may be included as in-kind donations in audited financial statements, while time volunteered to fill non-professional roles may not be included. The IRS does not permit any in-kind expenses to be included on the Form 990. These auditing and accounting rules can dramatically—and unfavorably—affect a charity’s ratio of administrative and development expenses to program expenses.

 

At the Boston Rescue Mission, our financial costs are significantly offset by donations from the food bank, grocery stores, and restaurants, as well as from individuals who volunteer to serve. These contributions are vital to our ability to feed more than 160 people each day. We strive to be excellent stewards of our donors’ financial contributions. By cultivating food donors and investing in the creation and oversight of volunteer positions to serve our programs, we nurture valuable relationships between volunteers and program members. Without these gifts of food and time, our program expenses would be substantially greater.