Waukesha County Center for Growth

Legal name: Waukesha County Center for Growth Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813018616
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Waukesha, WI, US
Phone
262.542.4249
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$355,350
Expenses
$348,877
Assets
$960,374
Liabilities
$209,061

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TOM FOTSCH (PRESIDENT)
  • JENNIFER BOGNAR (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • JEFF HOFFMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • THERESE THILL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • THERESE THILL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $186,673 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Center for Growth is here to help your business access capital to support your growth.

What it reported doing in 2025

The economic development program conducts activities that lessen the burdens of government by driving and furthering economic development in the waukesha county area to ensure quality growth, increased job generation, a robust economy, and a positive economic climate for the waukesha county community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 95.6%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 1.8%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.75; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 53.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 94% of revenue deployed · 95.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $333K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $187K · 13 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.