Washington Student Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911192925
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022
Location
Olympia, WA, USA
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$248,411
Expenses
$258,732
Assets
$44,523
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nancy Canales-Montiel (Executive Director)
  • Puneet Birk (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Nancy Canales-Montiel (Executive Director): $60,000 total reported compensation
  • Collin Bannister (VP of Legislative Affairs): $6,000 total reported compensation
  • Olene Togiailua (VP of Student Opportunity): $3,600 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Increasing postsecondary attainment and creating a more equitable system through state legislative advocacy.

What it reported doing in 2022

Fall General Assembly: Statewide student conference to propose and vote on legislation that will help pursue their higher education.Spring General Assebly: Statewide student conference to celebrate the legislation passed during the legislative session. Also our annual Gala with state leaders/elected.Summer Advocacy Student Training: Open to all students statewide, This training is to teach college students about legislative and grassroots advocacy.Legistlative Liaison Program: Internship run throughout Washingtons legislative session. Each member of campus will send a liaison to participate and represent students during the legislative session.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 5
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 11
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.2%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 80% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $207K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.