United Way of the Columbia-Willamette
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 930582124
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Portland, OR, US
- Phone
- 503-228-9131
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Federated Giving Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $26,986,979
- Expenses
- $29,431,595
- Assets
- $43,124,140
- Liabilities
- $4,862,125
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Kelly O'Lague (President/CEO)
- Diana Fischetti (Regional Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Kelly O'Lague (President/CEO): $321,297 total reported compensation
- Kori Dye-Gregg (Chief Operating Officer): $229,399 total reported compensation
- Dahnesh Medora (Chief Impact Officer): $207,024 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
When people are healthy, when young people can see a future for themselves, when families are financially secure, and when communities can bounce back from hardship, everyone perseveres.
What it reported doing in 2024
Coalition/ConveningBuilt on longstanding trust and partnership, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette (UWCW) is uniquely positioned to convene local leaders and community members with lived experience around a shared vision for a stronger Oregon and Southwest Washington. These robust partnerships have united leaders and programs across sectors to effectively deploy resources and deliver impact at scale. (See continuation on Schedule O). Youth Opportunity: Convened organizations and supported programs that connected more than 12,000 children to early learning resources and services, placed 1,180 young children in high-quality Preschool Promise programs, and helped provide more than 13,000 children with monthly books through a strategic partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Community Resiliency: $302,000 in grants were distributed to 33 disaster resilience organizations statewide through UWCW's Disaster Resilience Learning Network. Over the past two years, UWCW has also expanded its role beyond a direct service facilitator to a strategic funder through initiatives like our Community Grants and the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) Organizational Health Grant Program. Community Grants: $1.5 million granted to 50+ grassroots organizations prioritizing investment in BIPOC- and immigrant-led organizations. JOHS Organization Health Grant Program: Since 2024, the program has strengthened workforce stability across the homelessness response system by supporting 61 organizations, 88% of which achieved staff retention rates of 60% or higher.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 81% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 78% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.9%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 94.3%; rating input score 94; 24th 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; 66th 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: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.47; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 93.9% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $25.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $321K · 22 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $125K reported
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 143 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 132 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.