Washington Women's Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911754933
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2064072176
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Private Grantmaking Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,153,335
Expenses
$1,537,612
Assets
$5,449,722
Liabilities
$152,583

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARIA KOLBY-WOLFE (CEO AND PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARIA KOLBY-WOLFE (CEO AND PRESIDENT): $216,415 total reported compensation
  • DEBORAH HOUSEWORTH (CFO): $148,774 total reported compensation
  • AVIVA STAMPFER (GRANT DIRECTOR): $125,269 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Washington women's foundation (the foundation) is a nonprofit corporation that envisions an intentional community of women of all backgrounds united in building a just, equitable, and thriving Washington. Their mission is to provide long-term, unrestricted capital, organizational support, and networking to social change efforts benefiting women and girls in Washington state.

What it reported doing in 2025

Collective grant making: in 2025 the foundation granted a total of $319,500 in collective grant funds to over two dozen nonprofits evaluated through a member committee review process and selected by membership vote. All grants were to Washington state nonprofit organizations. Roughly 300 members volunteered their time and financial resources to the collective grantmaking process. Many members participated directly in a review process with grantees while studying the justice and equity issues that the grantee organizations address. The full membership voted to select the final grant recipients.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 64% for direct work, and 36% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th 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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 88.7%; rating input score 89; 42nd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -33.3%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.54; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.7% of revenue deployed · 71.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 22 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 18 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.