Transit Riders Union
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 452751950
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2022, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2066514282
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Labor Unions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $198,395
- Expenses
- $219,916
- Assets
- $87,363
- Liabilities
- $4,465
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Katie Wilson (President / General Secretary)
- Beau Morton (Vice President / Assisting Secretary)
People named in this filing
- Katie Wilson (President / General Secretary)
- Beau Morton (Vice President / Assisting Secretary)
- Anthony D'Amico (Recording Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
TRU organizes for economic justice including better public transit, stronger renter protections & labor standards, and progressive funding for public goods and services in Seattle and King County. In 2024, our main areas of work included campaigns to raise the minimum wage; organizing to protect renters; continuing direct "mutual aid" work with people living unsheltered; and advocating for robust public goods and social services funded with progressive revenue.
What it reported doing in 2024
Stay Housed Stay Healthy Coalition: TRU continued working with and helping to lead this coalition, organizing with renters and championing renter interests. In 2024, we successfully fended off plans to weaken Seattle's renter protections. We also collected information from Seattle renters about the growing problem of arbitrary and manipulative rental "junk fees" that landlords charge and created a document that we shared with elected officials. In the Seattle City Budget process, we fought with partial success to restore funding for tenant services and rental assistance that was cut in half in the mayor's proposed budget. These funds are vital to ensure that renters in distress have access to counseling, legal services, and organizing support as they try to avoid eviction or resolve other issues with their landlords. 56% of Seattle households are renters and benefit from the renter protections we are defending.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.3%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 62.6%; rating input score 63
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -10.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -31.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -26.7% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.3% of revenue deployed · 62.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $138K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.