Dress for Success Worldwide

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
134040377
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2125321922
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,377,719
Expenses
$15,981,079
Assets
$11,211,408
Liabilities
$2,426,485

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHELE MEYER-SHIPP (CEO, (UNTIL 7/9/2025))
  • JOAN M BILY (CEO, (FROM 10/21/2025))

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHELE MEYER-SHIPP (CEO, (UNTIL 7/9/2025)): $658,082 total reported compensation
  • REBECCA MANTEY (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $264,755 total reported compensation
  • ARLENE LOZANO (CHIEF AFFILIATE IMPACT OFFICER): $258,064 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Dress for success worldwide empowers women to achieve economic mobility by providing a network of support, professional attire, and development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

What it reported doing in 2025

Affiliate impact program: in 2025, programs included implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks, strengthening affiliate governance policies, and providing technical assistance for program implementation and compliance. Dsw facilitates affiliate engagement through leadership conferences, regional roundtables, and digital platforms for resource sharing and collaboration. The organization also manages centralized disbursement of designated funding and in-kind contributions from donors, while overseeing global brand management, impact measurement, and affiliate standards.dsw centrally manages programmatic partnerships and initiatives that support affiliates in delivering workforce development services globally. Areas of focus include career readiness, skill-building, peer support, and access to professional attire. In 2025, dsw implemented initiatives in entrepreneurship, mental health and well-being, and financial literacy, while also enhancing the dress for success online community. The platform continues to serve as a centralized hub for client resources, digital programming, and virtual connection between affiliates and the women they serve.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.7% of revenue deployed · 75.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $12M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $658K · 28 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $574K reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 58 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 47 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.