We the Action Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843593053
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2020
- Forms available
- Form 990 2020
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2028881746
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,598,610
- Expenses
- $2,143,129
- Assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SARAH BAKER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SARAH BAKER (PRESIDENT): $294,069 total reported compensation
- JACEK PRUSKI (MANAGING DIRECTOR & GENERAL COUNSEL): $243,458 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We the action foundation (wtaf) is a charitable organization that promotes pro bono work by lawyers on behalf of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits and other organizations carrying out charitable and educational work. A 2017 aba study found 81% of attorneys believe pro bono service is important, but only 45% said they were likely to do it themselves. Meanwhile, charitable and educational organizations pursuing critical missions struggle to find legal support. Traditional tools for connecting lawyers to nonprofits are outdated and fail to fully serve evolving needs of nonprofits and the lawyers who might serve them. Wtaf bridges this gap by supporting, through its own work and restricted grantmaking, the use of technology to match volunteer lawyers with charitable and educational organizations and by promoting pro bono service by lawyers.
What it reported doing in 2020
Wtaf raised in excess of $1.5 million in donations from private organizations to support its mission.wtaf made restricted grants to a nonprofit organization that leverage technology to match volunteer lawyers with charitable and educational organizations and that recruit, promote, and manage pro bono service by lawyers.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 96% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 97
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 48
- Sustainability: 9
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 96.7%; rating input score 97
- Fundraising efficiency: $90.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -34.1%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 64.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -200% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 96.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $294K · 4 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2019 to 2020
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.