National Women's Affordable Housing Network

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
871394768
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Buford, GA, USA
Phone
7045170308
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$820,792
Expenses
$791,886
Assets
$384,443
Liabilities
$178,595

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ASHLEY NORTHCUTT (PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • KATESSA ARCHER (VICE PRESIDENT OF COMPLIANCE)
  • SADIE NOTT (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JULIA KAERCHER (VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP)

Highest reported compensation

  • ASHLEY NORTHCUTT (PRESIDENT & CEO): $175,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The national women's affordable housing network (nat'l wahn), a women-led organization that welcomes the support of allies, is dedicated to advancing women's leadership in the affordable housing sector. Guided by our four pillars learn, connect, strengthen, and advocate. We provide targeted education, foster meaningful connections, and cultivate workplace equity for all. Through nationwide chapters, including those at colleges and universities, we advocate for impactful change by sharing ideas, building community, and driving the affordable housing movement forward.

What it reported doing in 2025

Wahn hosted its second annual national wahn summit during the year, bringing together more than 450 affordable housing professionals for a multi-day conference focused on leadership development, technical education, current housing policy, workforce development, and industry networking. The summit featured educational sessions led by affordable housing experts, policy leaders, developers, nonprofit professionals, financial institutions, and other industry stakeholders focused on current challenges and solutions impacting affordable housing nationwide. The summit created opportunities for women and allies across the affordable housing industry to share ideas, build meaningful professional connections, and support the advancement of women into decision-making and leadership roles. Through sponsor support, wahn worked to keep the event accessible to nonprofit professionals, students, small business owners, and self-employed individuals, helping foster multi-generational, multi-disciplinary, and cross-sector collaboration to strengthen and advance affordable housing efforts nationwide.

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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.2%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 72.5%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd 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: 3.5%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 57.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 38.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.2% of revenue deployed · 72.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $574K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $175K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.