Pilots N Paws is a South Carolina-based charity whose stated mission is to provide “a web based forum in which individuals and organizations can communicate for the purpose of transporting animals in need of movement from one location to another in the form of general and commercial aviation,” according to its 2024 tax filing. While CharityWatch is unable to provide a rating for Pilots N Paws at this time due to its small size (in terms of annual revenue and expenses), we did identify many issues of concern after analyzing the charity’s 2024 IRS tax Form 990.  

CharityWatch wrote the charity with questions via email and U.S. mail on July 17th, 2025. As of August 13th, 2025, we have not received a response. 

We encourage those considering making donations to Pilots N Paws to ask the charity to answer the following questions. If you do so and the charity responds, we encourage you to forward a copy of its responses to CharityWatch. The 2024 IRS tax Form 990 for Pilots N Paws that CharityWatch analyzed prior to formulating the below questions can be viewed here. 

Unanswered Questions: Registration Documents

(1) Per its 2024 Form 990, page 1, Section K, Pilots N Paws reports that it is legally organized as a corporation. CharityWatch was unable to locate the organization’s registration using the South Carolina Secretary of State’s business entity name search. We asked Pilots N Paws to provide evidence that it is properly registered with the South Carolina Secretary of State, or, conversely, to provide an explanation for why it is not (such as being incorporated in a state other than South Carolina, including evidence of such).

Unanswered Questions: Stockpiling Assets

(2) We noted that Pilots N Paws has accumulated a significant amount of cash reserves in the form of cash and savings relative to the amount of funds it spends each year. Of the just under $3.5 million in net assets reported as of 12/31/2024, all of it was reported as consisting of cash, save for $6,580 worth of inventory.

We also noted that these funds are not permanently restricted by donors, nor does Pilots N Paws report significant liabilities that may indicate these funds may need to be used to fund contracts for capital investments or to pay off past debts. CharityWatch computed that the organization could continue to operate at 2024 spending levels for more than 14.4 years without raising an additional penny of revenue.

We asked the charity to do the following:

a. Please provide or describe in detail your organization’s board-adopted policies related to its cash reserves and annual spending.

b. What are the organization’s plans for spending down these reserves? Please provide a timeline and plans for how it intends to use these funds for charitable purposes.

c. Does the organization have any plans for distributing these funds in the form of grants to other qualified 501(c)(3) public charities working in a similar cause area? If so, please describe such plans.

d.     Does your organization intend to discontinue its fundraising efforts if it is unable to spend the resources it has already accumulated on a reasonable timeline (spend them down within 3 to 5 years, for example)?

Unanswered Questions: Programmatic Activities

(3) In Pilots N Paw’s 2024 IRS Form 990, Part III, Section 4a, Pilots N Paws reported that “approximately 20,400 animals were provided with transportation in 2024.” We asked the charity to provide the following information:

a. Please provide a more detailed description of your organization’s part in facilitating such transportation. For example, was Pilots N Paws directly involved in facilitating these rescues, or did it participate in a less direct way?

b.  Of the approximately 20,400 animals transported, can you provide a breakout of the number of flights or rescues were facilitated in total related to these animals?

Unanswered Questions: Governance

(4) Pilots N Paws reports having only 4 board members on its governing body, of which only 3 are reported as “independent.” In addition, in Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Pilots N Paws reports that while it has a written conflict of interest policy, its officers, directors, trustees, and key employees were not required to annually disclose interests that could give rise to conflicts, nor was this policy regularly and consistently monitored or enforced. In addition, in the same section of the Form 990 your organization reports that it does not maintain a written whistleblower policy or a written document retention and destruction policy.

We asked Pilots N Paws to respond to the following questions:

a. Does your organization’s board intend to adopt, monitor, and enforce the above described policies in future years? If so, please provide a timeline for adopting such policies.

b. Please provide a description of your organization’s existing efforts to maintain internal controls, protect its assets, and detect fraud or misappropriations of assets.

Unanswered Questions: Fundraising

We asked Pilots N Paws to respond to the following questions:

(5) In 2024 Pilots N Paws reports raising $676,311 in cash contributions while spending only $2,489 to do so. Of this $2,489, no salaries and wages are included.

a. Did any paid member of staff spend any time on fundraising or fundraising-related work in 2024?

b.  If no member of staff spends any time on fundraising, or coordinating volunteer fundraisers, how does the organization maintain good governance related to its fundraising practices?

c.  Please generally describe the primary ways your organization raises the bulk of its donations annually (for example, via its website; volunteers; fundraising events; crowdfunding campaigns on third-party websites, etc.).

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