Watchfire Media Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824613302
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Oceanside, CA, USA
Phone
7606787096
Rating
54
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$195,922
Expenses
$140,461
Assets
$92,172
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Alicia Johnson (President)
  • Daneen Akers (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Daneen Akers (Executive Director): $77,200 total reported compensation
  • Stephen Eyer (Producer): $15,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Watchfire Media is dedicated to telling good stories through books curricula and films that help us envision the world that could be. We want young people and their adults to walk comfortably with the big questions of spirituality and meaning to be awed by the beauty of the world and to be committed to love kindness courage and justice. We are the publisher of Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints Dear Mama God and the upcoming The Wren Magazine for tweens and teens.

What it reported doing in 2024

Watchfire Media continued to publish our books Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints and Dear Mama God and their companion curricula. We developed a new curriculum for Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints called Part II: We Are Made of Stories & Stardust. It focuses on the importance of the stories we tell individually and collectively and helps youth identify the stories told by 11 additional holy troublemakers and unconventional saints so they can find those that resonate with them and want to share or retell in their own ways.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 43% for direct work, and 57% for grants.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 22
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 22.3%; rating input score 22
  • Program expense ratio: 28%; rating input score 28
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 28.3%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 65.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 26.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 22.3% of revenue deployed · 28% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $39K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $77K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 22/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.