Handweavers Guild of America Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
060866181
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
6787300010
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$486,806
Expenses
$660,077
Assets
$763,857
Liabilities
$310,211

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PENELOPE MORGAN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON (EXECUTIVE DI): $90,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To educate, support, and inspire the fiber arts community.

What it reported doing in 2025

Convergence is a 7-day biennial fiber art conference held in even-numbered years with much of the planning occurring in odd-numbered years. The conference attracts more than 1,500 participants from around the world for a multi-faceted experience with exhibitions, vendors, fashion show, tours, workshops, seminars, lectures, and more. At the heart of convergence are the sessions, taught by the world's leading fiber arts instructors and up-and-coming instructors in the field, known as convergence leaders. The conference includes 4 juried and 2 invitational exhibits.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.9%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 72.8%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -35.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.16; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.6%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.9% of revenue deployed · 72.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $481K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.