Clarion West

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911352168
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2012
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063229083
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$522,641
Expenses
$472,165
Assets
$440,021
Liabilities
$7,876

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Shweta Adhyam (President)
  • Izzy Wasserstein (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Marnee Chua (Executive Dir.): $83,600 total reported compensation
  • Nisi Shawl (Director): $2,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Clarion West's mission is to support emerging and underrepresented voices by providing writers with world-class instruction to empower their creation of wild and amazing worlds. Through conversation and public engagement, we bring those voices to an ever-expanding community.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Clarion West held 22 free public events, including alumni writing sessions, author events, open mics, and alumni readings. Seven of these events were held in-person around the Greater Seattle Area, including at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park, Common Objects Seattle, Seattle Public Library Central Location, Hugo House Seattle, and Magnuson Park Amphitheater. We also held several low-cost classes and workshops for writers in-person. Across all of our programs so far this year, the organization had 1,873 program participants. The free summer reading series had 309 attendees and two of these were held as hybrid events, with readers in Indiana and New York. We launched a Novel Writing Workshop this year, focusing on bringing 12 emerging writers from an initial idea to a full first draft of their novel. The application process was highly competitive and participants feel that the program has been successful, with 9 out of 12 participants completing their novel drafts within the first 10 months. Clarion West has held its signature six-week intensive writing workshop for the 43rd year. This year, we used a new format that aimed to improve the virtual experience and better assist writers through the intensive boot-camp style program. The overall consensus was that this format led to better outcomes. One participant wrote, Attending Clarion West was a wonderful experience! I felt very nurtured and my classmates, instructors and facilitators, challenged me to do better. CW made me a more confident and thoughtful writer.

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 100% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.6%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 56.2%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.2%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.6% of revenue deployed · 56.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $265K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.