Downtown Association of Yakima

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202578831
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Yakima, WA, USA
Phone
5095711328
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public, Society Benefit N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$714,880
Expenses
$717,367
Assets
$521,741
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Curtis Wilson (Executive Director)
  • Dave Zabell (President)
  • Alexandra (Vice-President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Curtis Wilson (Executive Director): $78,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Downtown Association of Yakima (DAY) exists to make the City of Yakima's urban core the premier place to live, work, and play. Primary activities are a facade restoration program, monthly educational breakfast meetings, free summer evening concerts, operation of a weekly Farmers' Market, maintenance of hanging flower baskets and street-level container plantings, removal of garbage and grafitti, and offering activities and advice to boost downtown's safety, appearance, economic activity, and appeal.

What it reported doing in 2025

Downtown Maintenance: Under a contract awarded to DAY by the City of Yakima, business and propery owners in a downtown special assessment district pay mandated fees to the City of Yakima for extra services, which DAY provides and is reimbursed for by the City of Yakima from these specially collected fees. These extra services include a daily pick-up and removal of garbage from city-owned receptacles as well as directly off the sidewalks, streets, and gutters; the maintenance of permanent ground-level shubbery qnd plants; the removal of snow from sidewalk/street intersections; the monitoring an removal of all grafitti; assistance in managing issues of homelessness; the the pruning and lighting of street trees; advice to businesses on CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design; and works closely with the City of Yakima's Departments of Public Services and Parks in all ways which promote health, safety, and positive downtown experiences. NOTE: This program area typically reports more expenses than revenue as DAY subsidizes the work of the City contract with funds from other sources. However, 2021 remained unusual in that the rolling quarantine lockdowns and guidelines instituted by the state & local governments greatly affected the hourly staffing due to issues related to child care when schools were closed, family illness, and other such pandemic challenges. This reduced hourly payroll, but the salaried staff and volunteers stepped up to maintain all the services by working increased hours. There was also a special $143,257 capital improvement for a downtown venue space--costs were paid in 2022 but contractual reimbursement was not received before the end of the fiscal year

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 71% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 - 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: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 88.1%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -0.3%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.4% of revenue deployed · 88.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $632K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.