Louisiana · Nonprofit
OPTIONS INC
OPTIONS INC (Louisiana) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,697,656 to it, the largest being Kelly Gene Cook Sr Charitable Foundation ($550,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.3M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $6.7M
What Options Inc does
Mission
Options has been improving the lives of hundreds of people with disabilities through maximizing life skills, meaningful work and activities, community inclusion, and providing support beyond the family.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Residential services - options operates 4 community homes. Each home provides a nurturing and supportive atmosphere for six individuals with developmental disabilities to call home. Two of the homes are for women and two are for men. The homes provide an opportunity for people with complex needs to live with peers in their communities. The locations were chosen in order to maximize access to the community and provide a unique neighborhood experience for residents. Each home is staffed around the clock to ensure the care and safety needs of residents are met. All 4 community homes have been successfully operating for over 25 years.
$2,414,839 spent$1,591,905 earned by the program30% of program spendingOptions provides people with disabilities with meaningful work opportunities through job placement and supported employment. People with disabilities have competitive jobs in the community through options job placement, job coaching, and ongoing supports. They work at businesses such as banks, offices, grocery stores, restaurants, retail stores, and government agencies. People with disabilities have jobs through options supported employment program. These individuals work on options cleaning crews, lawn maintenance crew, learning gardens, weaving studio, and at fabulous finds. In our rural community, jobs can be scarce, especially for people with disabilities. Over 80% of people with disabilities in the u.s. Are not employed and this program is just one solution to this problem. Options seeks opportunities and contracts with area businesses or starts new businesses to directly employ people with disabilities.
$2,587,534 spent$2,067,873 earned by the program32% of program spendingOptions supported independent living program assists individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live in the community as independently as possible. The philosophy of options is to support, assist, and meet the needs of each person based on his or her unique needs and goals. Options offers services that are tailored to each person's individual needs, wants, and skills. Program participants receive assistance with finding housing and negotiating lease terms, navigating home ownership, financial case management, health and wellness coaching and support, medical case management, in-home personal care, transportation, and any other services needed in order to maintain the highest level of independence for that person. Options has been meeting the needs of people with disabilities through its supported independent living program since 1985.
$3,121,986 spent$3,290,379 earned by the program38% of program spendingFamily support services - options provides individuals with disabilities, who live with their families, with supports that enhance their quality of life and assist their caregivers. Family support includes assistance with activities of daily living, meal preparation, hygiene, light housekeeping, transportation, and opportunities to participate in community activities. These services support the family care givers thus enabling them to maintain their own jobs, care for their other children, and take needed breaks. Participants enjoy the opportunity to pursue interests outside of the family. Options has been providing family support services since 1991.
Transportation services - the purpose of options transportation program is to provide essential transportation services. It is a critical service since most people with intellectual and developmental disabilities do not drive. Options transportation program provides access to doctors' appointments, grocery shopping, community jobs, church and recreation and social activities.
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,124,359.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $6.3M to $7.3M (+16%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2022 13% · 2023 8% · 2024 20% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
19% of OPTIONS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Carrie Mercke
CEO/president
Board chair
Laurie Johnson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 14 funders, grant income rose $833 → $320k.
9 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of OPTIONS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
OPTIONS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 58%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 72% · 2019 46% · 2020 34% · 2021 25% · 2022 40% · 2023 37% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
71% of OPTIONS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
OPTIONS INC draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Louisiana, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $392k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
OPTIONS INC's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like OPTIONS INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Louisiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- C'Est Tres Bon Inc · exempt
- Tion to Ensure the Future of Options Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPTIONS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds OPTIONS INC?
- OPTIONS INC (Louisiana) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,697,656 to it, the largest being Kelly Gene Cook Sr Charitable Foundation ($550,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPTIONS INC have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $1,697,656 in grants to OPTIONS INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPTIONS INC?
- Kelly Gene Cook Sr Charitable Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $550,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPTIONS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Louisiana. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Options →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 25 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing