The Well Coffeehouse
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 454036301
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, USA
- Phone
- 6154572684
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Economic Development
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,647,086
- Expenses
- $5,199,561
- Assets
- $4,119,370
- Liabilities
- $2,447,273
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARK BARNS (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- MARK BARNS (CEO): $179,086 total reported compensation
- CHRIS SOPER (COFFEE DIR/B): $56,269 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To support our purpose to love coffee and love people even more, the well coffeehouse changes lives locally and globally through the coffee it serves and the community it creates locally and the profit it donates to bring clean water globally & prioritizing needs in coffee
What it reported doing in 2024
At the well coffeehouse, we are turning coffee into water, and we are driven by our purpose to love coffee and love people even more. Our journey began in nashville in 2012 to build community locally at our coffeehouses and to make an impact globally with our profits by building water wells, and prioritizing safe water needs in the countries from which we source the world's best coffee. We love full circle.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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
STRONG - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 80
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 96.9%; rating input score 97
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 94.9%; rating input score 95; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.59; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 24.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 96.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $179K · 11 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 8 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.