The Washington Scholarship Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521808833
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2011–2011
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2011
- Location
- Bethesda, MD, USA
- Phone
- 3016577120
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $50,000
- Expenses
- $56,789
- Assets
- $29,878
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2011. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2011. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To raise funds and award scholarships for the benefit of low income elementary and secondary students in the Washington metropolitan area. The Fund is in the final stages of dissolution, because Federal funding was not approved by current administration. All operations have ceased.
What it reported doing in 2011
D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP): The federally-funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (the D.C. OSP or the OSP"). The OSP, authorized by the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, was passed into law by the U.S. Congress in January 2004; WSF began implementation of the program in April of the same year. Signature Scholarship Program (SSP):"The Signature Scholarship Program" (the "Signature Program" or the "SSP"). WSF operated the Signature Program form 1993 through January 2011. The SSP was 100% privately funded through contributions by individuals, foundations, corporations, and non-profit institutions - nearly all of them local to the D.C.-Metro area. In addition, the program was supported through a matching grant partnership with the New York-based Children's Scholarship Fund. The Signature Program provided up to $3,000 in yearly tuition to students in grades K-12. To qualify, families needed to be at or below 270% of the federal poverty level; be residents of the District of Columbia. Over the years, the SSP was of particular benefit in expanding access to new educational opportunities for District "working poor" families who struggled mightily, under enormously trying economic circumstances, to meet the often-competing demands of life in a challenging urban setting. For these families, absent WSF scholarships, educational options would have been severely limited, if not entirely beyond reach. Among the best indicators of the SSP's value to D.C. families was the fact that, historically, over 90% of SSP high school graduates have went on to attend a college or university immediately following graduation."
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 77% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 97
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 91.1%; rating input score 91
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -13.6%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: Limited
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $52K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.