Dress for Success Oregon

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
931250115
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Portland, OR, USA
Phone
5032497300
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,184,761
Expenses
$747,470
Assets
$855,843
Liabilities
$196,026

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lindsey Norlander (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lindsey Norlander (Executive Director): $108,698 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and tools to help them thrive in work and in life

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, Dress for Success Oregon (DFSO) continued to expand its services, offering job preparation, career development, job retention, and navigation support to low-income women and gender-expansive individuals. With the addition of a Program Navigator, DFSO enhanced its capacity to connect participants to essential community resources, housing, food, healthcare, legal services, and vocational training, thereby removing key barriers to employment and financial stability.DFSO delivered more than 3,100 services, including over 1,300 personalized navigation sessions, career upskilling workshops, and Professional Women's Group (PWG) sessions. These offerings include resume-building; digital literacy covering MicrosoftSuite, Google, Canva, AI tools, and LinkedIn; financial literacy courses ("Money Habits", SMART goal-setting); Myers-Briggs assessments; workplace best-practices training; health and wellness programs (yoga, art therapy, emotional-intelligence training, breast-cancer awareness); and civic engagement education (rank-choice voting, voter registration). These comprehensive supports are delivered in a flexible model, both in-person and remote, to meet each individual's preferred format.The results demonstrate clear impact: in 2024, 78% of job-seeking participants secured employment through DFSO's programs. Clients who engaged with the ongoing career-development and job-retention services for two or more years showed a more than 35% reduction in reliance on public assistance, and many reported career advancement, new housing, vehicle acquisition, and increased financial independence. Furthermore, in 2024 DFSO hosted its annual Personal Care Resource Fair, a one-stop event offering not only professional attire but also toiletries, hair care, dental-care access and professional headshots, underscoring DFSO's holistic approach to removing obstacles to workforce entry. By removing employment barriers, equipping participants with essential skills, and providing a supportive learning community, DFSO empowers single mothers, survivors of domestic violence, and those aging out of foster care to achieve self-defined success and long-term economic stability.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 49.4%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 78.3%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th 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; 63rd 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: 36.9%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.14; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.5%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 49.4% of revenue deployed · 78.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $585K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $109K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.