Washington Office on Latin America

What it reported doing in 2025

Colombia - in 2025, wola deepened its efforts to advance peace, human rights, and racial justice in colombia. Wola collaborated with the u.s. Congressional black caucus to promote the rights of afrodescendants in the americas and the un's second decade of afrodescendants. This included participating in the events in the congress and publishing an analytical article on the lessons of the first afrodescendant decade. In may, wola staff organized the delegation of the 2024 colombia national human rights prize winners to Washington, dc, and New York. We organized meetings with the winners and u.s. Policymakers, congressional staff, civil society organizations, and un agencies and missions, as well as several public events. Wola wrote several analytical pieces regarding u.s.-colombia relations. Wola also traveled to colombia to support work focused on youth programs, human rights training, and services for internally displaced people and survivors of domestic violence. During the year, wola took action concerning trans rights in the americas, such as the highly publicized brutal killing of sara millerey in colombia. As the only member of the coalition for global equality focused on latin america, wola has contributed to advocacy work with u.s. Policymakers to encourage them to guarantee the protection of lgbtq+ persons globally, with a particular focus on the challenges faced by this community in latin america as well as by lgbtq+ asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants.these efforts underscored wola's long-standing commitment to promoting inclusive peace and elevating the voices of historically marginalized groups in colombia.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 71.3%; rating input score 71
• Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
• Fundraising efficiency: $11.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 10%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.49; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 37.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings