America Walks Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
043401323
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
5083199632
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$919,149
Expenses
$1,272,179
Assets
$746,957
Liabilities
$91,608

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mike McGinn (Executive Director)
  • Greg Miao (President)
  • Wendy Landman (Vice President)
  • Arlis Reynolds (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Mike McGinn (Executive Director): $152,209 total reported compensation
  • Benjamin Crowther (Policy Director): $107,627 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of america walks is to advance safe, equitable, accessible, and enjoyable places to walk and move by giving people and communities the resources to effectively advocate for change.

What it reported doing in 2024

Training and technical assistance - Community Change Grants - America Walks awarded 21 grants through our 2024-2025 Community Change Grant program. This program supports local, grassroots efforts to create safe, accessible, and enjoyable places to walk and be physically active for all community members. Since its beginning in 2015, this grant program has provided funds for more than a hundred projects demonstrating the creativity and passion of walking and moving champions across the us. Of the 21 grantees, 15 were awarded thorough funding from our partnership with General Motors and 6 from our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding. AARP LC-TAP and Community Challenge Grant Technical Assistance- AARP engaged America Walks to deliver technical assistance, including one-on-one coaching, webinars, and other supports, to AARP Community Challenge Grantees that receive capacity-building microgrants to conduct walk audits in their communities. This work consisted of a kick-off webinar, over 40 individual coaching calls, 10 peer-group discussions, and final wrap-up/celebration webinar held In December 2024. We additionally obtained technical assistance from the Walk2Connect team. For AARP LC-TAP, this was our first year completing this program and we engaged with 17 AARP state offices for walk audit focused technical assistance (virtual and in-person workshops).

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -38.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93% of revenue deployed · 67.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $854K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $152K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.