Columbia Basin Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911733104
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Ephrata, WA, USA
Phone
5097544596
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Emergency Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,795,795
Expenses
$2,647,346
Assets
$20,462,572
Liabilities
$132,490

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID THOMSEN (PRESIDENT)
  • JAMES SHANK (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • CORINNE ISAAK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CORINNE ISAAK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $123,600 total reported compensation
  • JACQUIE HUNT (FINANCE DIRECTOR): $89,460 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Columbia basin foundation is a community foundation with a collection of permanent charitable funds supported by a wide range of donors for the purpose of strengthening the community for the benefit of all citizens. The foundation is committed to: assist donors to create charitable funds and to distribute proceeds therefrom in accordance with donor's intents, be a responsible steward of those resources, use discretionary grant funds wisely to meet community needs, and be a constructive catalyst in the philanthropic community to identify problems and opportunities, and to shape effective responses to them.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, 147 grants and/or sponsorships were awarded to organizations. Grants are given to qualified, tax-exempt nonprofit organizations for work directly benefiting residents of the columbia basin. Grants are given to those organizations that place a priority on projects that help build the community and help strengthen community connections, and benefit a broad segment of the local population.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 61% for direct work, and 39% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 74.6%; rating input score 75; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.73; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $124K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 42 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 37 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.