Community Work Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
391498287
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Madison, WI, USA
Phone
6082330115
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Vocational Rehabilitation

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,494,552
Expenses
$1,570,870
Assets
$478,682
Liabilities
$146,718

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARY KAY MUSSEY (PRESIDENT)
  • EILEEN AHEARN (VICE PRESIDENT/SECRETARY)
  • GINA SHEA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • GINA SHEA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $94,647 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Cws provides community-based employment services to persons with developmental disabilities, including job development, placement, on-the-job training, and retention services.

What it reported doing in 2024

Cws collaborated with over 71 employers in dane county, Wisconsin to provide community-based employment to 73 adults with developmental disabilities. These 73 clients displayed the following disabilities or combinations thereof including: autism, cognitive disabilities, visual or hearing disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, brain injury, chronic mental illness and mild to severe physical limitations and/or behavioral challenges. In 2024, cws has a job retention rate of over 97%. Cws has maintained a job retention rate for its clients of over 95% for the past 31 years. In addition, in 2024, over 97% of cws clients were employed in paid jobs in the community. Based on clients needs, cws offers different levels of ongoing support including: continuous on-site support (30 clients), to daily (27 clients) weekly (7 clients), monthly (9 clients) contact.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.8%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.8% of revenue deployed · 92.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $95K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.