ForWords Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 463333037
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2022
- Forms available
- Form 990 2022, Form 990-EZ 2018
- Location
- San Rafael, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4157857899
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $315,704
- Expenses
- $218,912
- Assets
- $346,980
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Larry Siegel (Vice President)
- Jeff Gough (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Gail Siegel (Ex. Dir. & VP): $12,700 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Organization provides literacy programs for low-income, under-served students in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, many of whom are English language learners. It is their belief that every student should have the chance to accomplish their dreams, go to college and be fully and effectively employed. They believe that students, particularly those who live in under-resourced communities, deserve educational opportunities to match their drive, intelligence and hopes so they can become proud and accomplished members of our democracy.
What it reported doing in 2022
The Organization provides instructions and resources to help students develop the ability to write, speak, and read effectively and publish their work in print, video and digital media. The Organization works with students to foster self-awareness, confidence, personal voice and pride in community and culture. These programs ended on August 1, 2022.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 69% 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.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.2%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 96.9%; rating input score 97
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 30.7%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.59; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.2% of revenue deployed · 96.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $212K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $13K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2014 to 2022
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.
- High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is recorded as not currently operating in California.