Communication Workers of America

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
160795153
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone
7168562828
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$394,503
Expenses
$193,410
Assets
$1,593,951
Liabilities
$5,276

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KIMBERLY LEISER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JON HARRIS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KIMBERLY LEISER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $50,268 total reported compensation
  • JON HARRIS (PRESIDENT): $5,000 total reported compensation
  • STEVE WATSON (VP, CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION): $2,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Employee guild

What it reported doing in 2023

Negotiation: (a) the guild seves as the bargaining agent between its members and its members employer, the buffalo news. (b) contracts are negotiatied in 2-3 year intervals. During that period the members provide feedback to the executive committee on ways to improve working conditions and quality of life issues. (c) negotiations between the guild and the buffalo news are handled by the bargaining committee together with the outside legal counsel, and final contracts are ratified by the guilds members, after the intrnational newspaper guild has reviewed the finals terms of the contract. Grievance/arbitratim and servce: the guild also serves its members by ensuring enforcement of the contract through the grievance process as well as arbitratim. Training: (a) in order to promote education and training for its members the guild proved industry specific information to its members in the form of local workshops and forums for discussion. The guild also sends members to professional seminars to maintain and enhance their skills (b) the training of members is an ongoing event that is held as part of the general meetiings, forums for focus groups, social media and outside seminars (c) these events are open to the general membership and expenses related to the events are approved by the executive committee. Communication: (a) the guild provides regular communication to its members in the form of a monthly newsletter and website which allows the members to remain current with the status of negotiations and grievances with the buffalo news. The guild also provides its members with information related to the newspaper industry on a regional and national level. (b) the newsletter is published peridically and the website is updated on a regular basis. (c) the newsletter is prepared by one of the guilds vice presidents. The website is maintained by a communication officer.

Operating model

Revenue model
Membership-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 49
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.9%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 37.7%; rating input score 38
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 51%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.24; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.9% of revenue deployed · 37.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 86 of 86 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2014 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D revenue reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.