United Way of Kaw Valley Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
480561978
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Topeka, KS, USA
Phone
7852734804
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Federated Giving Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,856,041
Expenses
$5,042,041
Assets
$3,902,304
Liabilities
$1,220,140

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JESSICA LEHNHERR (PRESIDENT &)

Highest reported compensation

  • JESSICA LEHNHERR (PRESIDENT &): $116,489 total reported compensation
  • VALERIE THIEME (CFO): $76,636 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Mission: creating and cultivating an unbreakable network of support vision: healthy and resilient communities where all can thrive.

What it reported doing in 2024

United way of kaw valley serves the people of shawnee, douglas, jackson and jefferson counties in northeast Kansas. We pair individual and corporate donations with state and national grant dollars to create and cultivate an unbreakable network of support for healthy and resilient communities where all can thrive. Each year uwkv invests and manages millions of dollars to help ensure that regardless of their zip code every family and individual has access to the resources to live, learn and thrive. That can look like access to affordable: - high-quality childcare - high-quality preschool - parenting education and support - physical and mental health care - financial literacy education - job training - family supports/basic needs in times of instability we help families today while knowing that we must also change the systems that perpetuate inequity and generational disadvantage. We think and act strategically about volunteering to increase the capacity of the local nonprofit community to serve our neighbors in need. We convene conversations among donors, partners and stakeholders to create a common understanding of our greatest challenges and to generate better, more inclusive and achievable solutions. These conversations must include stakeholders who have used community services and understand the barriers because they have experienced them. We invest locally in partners whose work supports our aspirations. Investments are community-specific, supporting strategies guided by local volunteers in each county. Dollars raised in a community/county remain in that community unless a donor designates otherwise. Uwkv adds value to the nonprofit community by leading and encouraging collaboration, by sharing resources and capacity and by focusing many partners on problems that would overwhelm any single agency. Uwkv forges connections between and among partners and donors. Uwkv shares its accumulated knowledge with its partners in the mutual pursuit of success of the whole family in all its forms. Succeeding in that pursuit also requires that uwkv listen to, learn from, and amplify the voices of those who are most in need and those who have been traditionally underrepresented or even silenced. Uwkv recognizes that everyone in its united way community brings value to its mission. It understands that each employee, donor, volunteer, partner and stakeholder brings different experiences perspectives and expectations on their united way journey. Uwkv respects and encourages insight and participation from all community members. Uwkv also invests in direct service programs that benefit both community members and our nonprofit peers, including: - managing and providing at no cost to users an online volunteer matching service. - coordinating thousands of volunteer hours each year through ongoing board and committee opportunities, corporate volunteer engagement and special volunteer events, including nancy perry day of caring, which annually supplies around 1,000 corporate and community volunteers for nonprofit projects. - supporting the vita program that helps people get their tax returns prepared for free. This program brings 10 million back into the community in the form of saved preparation fees tax refunds and earned income credits. - increasing the capacity of our local nonprofit community by building a network of community resource navigators who efficiently and empathetically connect our neighbors in need to the partners and programs that can best serve them. - convening no- or low-cost communication and learning opportunities that strengthen the connections and capacity of the service network in our region. - administering the shawnee county christmas bureau. - administering and fundraising for dolly parton's imagination library in shawnee county. - coordinating the junior leader reader program (a program of uwkv's young leaders society) where every year volunteers read to thousands of preschool and kindergarten students, each of whom rec

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 61% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 87% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97%; rating input score 97; 32nd 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.8%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $116K · 28 people listed
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 38 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 36 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.