Washington State Fair Event Center
Legal name: Western Washington Fair Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 910470250
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Puyallup, WA, US
- Phone
- (253) 845-1771
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Fairs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $50,883,202
- Expenses
- $52,693,251
- Assets
- $95,596,655
- Liabilities
- $3,968,254
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RENEE MCCLAIN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
- MICHAEL D NELSON (PRESIDENT)
- JERRY D LARSON (PAST PRESIDENT)
- ANDREW D MCDONALD (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- RENEE MCCLAIN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $259,999 total reported compensation
- JOHN TARTAGLIA (VENDOR SERVICES MANAGER): $197,941 total reported compensation
- MARTIN MATTES (CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER): $166,591 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Together, our Board and our team bring vision, experience and a deep commitment to delivering extraordinary moments for our community.
What it reported doing in 2024
The association self produces five signature events including the Washington state fair for 20 days typically in september, spring fair for eight days in april, the taste nw for three days the weekend before july 4th, oktoberfest nw for three days in october and holiday magic for thirteen days in december. The wsfec is also rented for approximately 130 events throughout the year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 86% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 37
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.7%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 96.3%; rating input score 96
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -3.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.81; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 99.7% of revenue deployed · 96.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $50.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $260K · 20 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.