Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
912115945
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2009
Location
Walla Walla, WA, USA
Phone
5095263117
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$922,763
Expenses
$1,096,106
Assets
$512,079
Liabilities
$90,811

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TIM ARMSTRONG (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • HEATHER SCOTT (EXECUTIVE DI): $120,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Founded in 2001, the walla walla valley wine alliance is one of the ten most successful and well-known winery/grower/partner industry membership organizations in the pacific northwest.

What it reported doing in 2025

Walla walla on tour is our travelling event with both core and mini events. Core events: portland, boise, spokane 51 participating wineries approximately 1,300 consumers and 600 trade/media attendees engaged across all three markets (1,156 trade registrations, which builds our email list) 3 paying partners: visit walla walla, bacchus & barley, and the marcus whitman hotel 29,525 retail wine sales generated across boise and spokane; wwvwa received 30% or 8.8k mini events: chicago, denver, seattle chicago (may 8-9): 20 guests at the sixtyfour wine bar dinner; 73 guests (plus 2 media) at the birch road tasting, generating 2,389 in sales denver (may 30): birch road tasting sold out at 100 guests with 9 participating wineries, generating 4,000+ in sales; followed by a vip dinner hosted and funded by visit walla walla seattle (june 27): see walla walla on tour seattle recap above across the mini-market series, each city saw 80-100+ guests, and each market required about 750 in catering. Wineries met the minimum ticket requirement to secure the space at no charge, and ticket prices ranged from 35 to 50. Lower prices paired with big-city settings, drove the younger demographic.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 77% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -18.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $120K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.