San Diego Writers Ink

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201202924
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2013
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6196960363
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$254,748
Expenses
$263,908
Assets
$65,092
Liabilities
$31,926

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SANDRA YOUNGER (PRESIDENT)
  • SUSAN GEMBROWSKI (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KRISTEN FOGLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTEN FOGLE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $85,208 total reported compensation
  • MICHELLE CAMPBELL (BOOKKEEPER): $17,503 total reported compensation
  • MADELINE BUCCI (ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT): $7,121 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

San Diego Writers, Ink nurtures writers and fosters a literary community by: serving as a hub for the literary community, promoting literature, providing artistic development for writers at all levels, and facilitating artistic collaboration.

What it reported doing in 2024

Provided classes, groups and workshops in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, screenwriting, playwriting, journaling and other literary genres and topics.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 68% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 80.5%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $31.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

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: 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: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -3.6%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 43.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.7% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.9% of revenue deployed · 80.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $212K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $85K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • 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: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.