The Washington Bus Education Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261453582
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063251889
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Voter Education, Registration

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,660,328
Expenses
$1,075,404
Assets
$971,228
Liabilities
$125,670

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cinthia Illan-Vazquez (Executive Director)
  • Evann Strathern (Board President)
  • Emma Scalzo (Board Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Cinthia Illan-Vazquez (Executive Director): $126,523 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We catalyze the energy and enthusiasm of young Washingtonians and provide hands-on democracy opportunities like voter registration, youth voter turnout, and leadership development programs on campuses and communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

YOUTH LEADERSHIP The WA Bus Education Fund Fellowship is an intensive ten-week leadership development and organizing program for young people ages 18-25 in Washington State. It is an intentional and transformative experience for young folks who are ready to inspire change alongside their communities. Fellows learn from organizing experts and civic servants, run the most innovative, effective and fun civic programs in Washington State, and collaborate with community organizations and issue campaigns for hands-on organizing experience. The WBEF recruits fellowship participants from a diversity of communities. Fellows graduate with a professional network and experiences they can apply in a variety of fields, including organizing in their own communities. In 2024 we hired 12 Fellows who received over 45 hours of classroom time, and collected a total of 72 voter registrations and 853 pledge-to-votes across 20 canvassing shifts. The Fellows also organized 2 events, including an innovative non-partisan candidate forum for local and statewide candidate forum.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 50
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 41.2%; rating input score 41
  • Program expense ratio: 63.5%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: 35.2%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.9; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 41.2% of revenue deployed · 63.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $683K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $127K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 41/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.