Consortium on Workplace-based Education & Learning (Cowbel)
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 854001404
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Columbus, OH, USA
- Phone
- 8655852037
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $310,027
- Expenses
- $381,158
- Assets
- $266,934
- Liabilities
- $149,500
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JULIE FUNK (PRESIDENT)
- ROBERT MURTAUGH (PRESIDENT-ELECT)
- STACY ANDERSON (IMM. PAST PRESIDENT)
- JOHN WEALE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- JOHN WEALE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $46,600 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Conducted regular electronic meetings and an annual in-person meeting, structured around the initial programming of cowbel and how to achieve its mission. The initial programming included educating others regarding the distributed veterinary educational model, supporting research and scholarship on veterinary distributed education, developing educational modules for veterinary clinical partners and other activities as deemed appropriate.
What it reported doing in 2025
Regular electronic meetings were held via zoom with the five standing cowbel committees (operations, academic, accreditation, partnership & scholarship). Two annual meetings were held in 2025. One at vmx orlando and another at Texas a&m university. Meetings discussed topics relevant to distributed veterinary clinical education. Regular updates to the cowbel website kept members informed on various cowbel initiatives. Cowbel approved two projects in 2025 (funds distributed in 2025). Cowbel continues to develop educational modules for veterinary clinical educators. Cowbel began the development of a clinical data management tool for the oversight of clinical partners in veterinary distributed education (cowbel-smartsheet data harmonization solution).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 97
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 18
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 94.5%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $300.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -22.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.56; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.2%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 165.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 57.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 39.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $360K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $47K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.