Precipitation Northwest
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 811469719
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Portland, OR, US
- Phone
- 5039695585
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $472,115
- Expenses
- $462,107
- Assets
- $175,868
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LIZ PITTINOS (PRESIDENT)
- MICHELLE DAVID (PRESIDENT EM)
People named in this filing
- LIZ PITTINOS (PRESIDENT)
- CHRIS SCHNEIDER (DIRECTOR)
- LAUREN NOVOTNY (VICE PRESIDE)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Precipitation Northwest’s mission is to foster opportunities for participatory art, civic engagement, and leadership development. Our organization seeks not only to build bridges between the vibrant, creative, and artistic burner community and others in the Portland metro area, but also to provide opportunities for skill building, arts education, and leadership development. We aim to achieve this by offering participatory, decommodified, and interactive events and programs to the community.
What it reported doing in 2024
Again, we produced and provided production support for a large community event in wasco county which included a small 'people mover' to allow disabled folks, and others, to move more freely, as well as it being a leave no trace event. We supported with grants, approx. 95 artists to bring art to our events, which included a one day/night event in portland, or; our third supported event was safety northwest, which updates and teaches event organizers best practices and safety protocols at events.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 69.5%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 91.2%; rating input score 91; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.1%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.38; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.6% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 68% of revenue deployed · 69.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $321K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.