We Heart Seattle
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 853654192
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2067993484
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $947,580
- Expenses
- $794,302
- Assets
- $864,938
- Liabilities
- $5,715
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Michael Shellenberger (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Andrea Suarez (Executive Dir.): $118,516 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We Heart Seattle is an action-based, boots-on-the-ground movement that organizes trash cleanups in our public spaces and offers resources to those in need. Through our direct civic engagement we lead the way to a more compassionate and healthy community.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025 We Heart Seattle WHS removed 270,000 pounds of trash from Seattle and bordering cities, public spaces parks, alleys, sidewalks, playgrounds, greenbelts, bike trails, vacant lots, and commercial zones, organized 52 individual debris cleanup events and accrued close to 3800 volunteer hours. Through our civic engagement, we involved 450 new volunteers, restored 24 degraded landmarks and parks, and partnered with park stewards who maintain these spaces long-term. Our organized large format debris removals not only contribute to a cleaner environment, but also foster system-wide changes for equity and civic engagement by bringing communities together. In 2025, we further supported civic engagement by hosting a city-wide voter awareness walkabout, along with voter registration and education events. During our daily boots-on-the-ground activities, we connected individuals living unhoused to a range of vital resources, including medical detox, recovery housing, and employment navigation, securing vital documents, removing a range of barriers and, ultimately, assisting 33 individuals to move off the streets in 2025, and uplifting the lives of thousands. Our Clean and Care model provides a unique and vital approach to saving lives, thus saving our city from the decimation the drug epidemic plays in the environmental and humanitarian crisis we face. In 2025, We Heart Seattle continued our partnership with the City of Seattle to access a drug rehabilitation fund providing friction-free access for people in need of treatment.
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 97% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 55
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.6%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 92.2%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $37.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.2%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.9%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 33.3% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 36.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.6% of revenue deployed · 92.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $732K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $119K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.