Wayword Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 270277377
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2009
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6198904275
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Radio
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $277,596
- Expenses
- $281,412
- Assets
- $113,943
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Grant Barrett (CEO/Officer)
Highest reported compensation
- Grant Barrett (CEO/Officer): $67,037 total reported compensation
- Martha Barnette (VP/Officer): $64,337 total reported compensation
- Stefanie Levine (CFO/Officer): $50,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Wayword, Inc. produces and distributes A Way with Words, a public radio show and podcast about language and how we use it. The educational program airs in more than 400 cities across the United States and reaches millions of listeners annually through radio, podcast distributors, and a lively online presence. Its digital community includes more than 922,208 social media followers, more than 65,000 active weekly podcast subcribers who download episodes millions of times per year, and more than 55,000 email newsletter subscribers.The nonprofit's mission is to educate, inspire, and connect people through language, bridging generations, backgrounds, and regions. Each week, co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett take listener calls and explore topics such as word origins, slang, grammar, regional speech, cultural identity, and family expressions. The show brings linguistic knowledge to everyday conversations in an accessible and engaging way.The nonprofits board, staff, and volunteers b
What it reported doing in 2025
Wayword, Inc. promotes public understanding of language by producing and distributing audio content for educational and cultural organizations, including public broadcasters and schools. Weekly episodes of Wayword's nationally distributed radio program, "A Way with Words," are made available at no cost nationwide, as are supplementary materials to support learning, community engagement, and family listening.The nonprofits board, staff, and volunteers are committed to advancing language education and celebrating linguistic diversity. Their work supports lifelong learning and meaningful dialogue in an increasingly interconnected world.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 78% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 92
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 91.4%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: $239.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 25th 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: -1.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 64.5%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 92.6% of revenue deployed · 91.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $257K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $67K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.