Washington Area Villages Exchange

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
371718601
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Phone
5716890019
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Senior Centers

Reported finances

Revenue
$495,248
Expenses
$96,767
Assets
$459,484
Liabilities
$14,300

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Laila Riazi (President)
  • Jim Sanders (Vice President)
  • Arkia Wade (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Laila Riazi (President)
  • Wendy Zenker (Treasurer)
  • Maryann Long (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Washington Area Villages Exchange (WAVE) brings together nonprofit villages in the wider Washington DC region to learn and grow by sharing experiences and ideas.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Washington Area Villages Exchange (WAVE) is a regional organization that supports over 80 nonprofit Villages in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. While all Villages embody a mission of helping older adults age in place, an increasing number are multigenerational with a focus on creating supportive community networks. WAVE is dedicated to providing a platform for Villages to learn from one another, share resources and exchange ideas so that they may better serve the needs of older adults in our region. WAVE's board members are active Village leaders who have extensive experience in aging, health, and organizational management and the organization works in partnership with the national Village to Village Network. WAVE provides diverse educational programming and networking opportunities that strengthen and promote developing and established Villages and sponsors awards recognizing excellence and innovation in Village programming and services. Additionally, WAVE's website hosts a wide range of resources and research relevant to Villages, an archive of past programs, and a shared events calendar accessible to all members. WAVE has been awarded grants from the Maryland Department of Aging to provide resources and services to new and developing Villages in Maryland and to develop a pilot program to expand Village data collection and analysis.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 91% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 50
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 80
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 17.8%; rating input score 18
  • Program expense ratio: 89.3%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $688.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • 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: 80.5%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.75; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 139.8% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 161% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 17.8% of revenue deployed · 89.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $86K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 20 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.