We Are Family Senior Outreach Network Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262902518
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2024878698
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$711,778
Expenses
$789,847
Assets
$220,473
Liabilities
$55,098

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mark Andersen (Key Employee- Full Time Co-Executive Director)
  • Tulin Ozdeger (Key Employee - Full-time Co-Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Mark Andersen (Key Employee- Full Time Co-Executive Director): $113,682 total reported compensation
  • Tulin Ozdeger (Key Employee - Full-time Co-Executive Director): $113,682 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We are family serves seniors in the shaw, north capitol street, adams morgan, petworth and columbia heights neighborhoods. We bring advocacy, services, organizing, and companionship into the homes of the elderly, while helping to build friendships across boundaries like race, class, religion, age, culture and sexual orientation.

What it reported doing in 2024

We Are Family Senior Outreach Network was born in 2004 with $15,000 donated by the multi-platinum punk band Good Charlotte and its ally, Positive Force DC, to a small knot of senior leaders and their friends at inner-city Catholic parish, St. Aloysius. This unique intersection of young and old, urban and suburban, black, white and brown, faith-based and secular, came together to address a worrisome gap in senior services amidst a community crisis in the North Capitol/Shaw community, a low-income area five blocks north of the U.S. Capitol. In 2007, we added a second, similarly challenged service area in the nearby Columbia Heights/Petworth neighborhood. We Are Family mobilizes volunteers to bring free services, advocacy, and friendship directly into seniors' homes in these areas. We have gone from helping about 50 seniors in 2004 to serving nearly 1200 in 2024. Last year, We Are Family successfully reimagined and expanded our services in the pandemic's aftermath and: * delivered 14,008 grocery bags of pantry staples, * monthly produce deliveries to 1,174 seniors throughout the year, * delivered 906 personalized birthday cards, * provided 1153 Thanksgiving $50 gift cards, * delivered 1188 holiday gift bags, and * saved 3 seniors from eviction. All of this was done with three full-time and one half-time staff and a volunteer roster of almost 6,000, over 150 of which are regular helpers. More broadly, we aim to build lasting friendships across boundaries like race, class, age, religion, and sexual orientation. Grounded in grassroots senior leadership, and driven by our diverse corps of volunteers, We Are Family walks beside our seniors to face whatever challenges life may bring. Together, we build a network of caring eyes and ears - a community that honors its elders, where neighbors look out for each other, where no one is forgotten, and where everybody matters. We Are Family is not simply a social service agency; it is a bold experiment in building caring, just, and inclusive community. Your tax-deductible donation or volunteer time can make a big difference in the life of a senior! JOIN US IN STANDING WITH OUR SENIORS!

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $711K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $114K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.