Wisdaa

Legal name: Wisconsin Interscholastic Speech & Dramatic Arts Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237009871
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2009
Location
La Crosse, WI, USA
Phone
9207101895
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Crime, Legal Related N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$277,407
Expenses
$243,064
Assets
$620,454
Liabilities
$150

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

People named in this filing

  • PAM BELDEN (CHAIR)
  • KAITLYN BERGMANN (DIRECTOR)
  • NATHAN BERISH (DISTRICT CHA)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To build confidence in middle and high school students through speech, debate, theatre, and film.

What it reported doing in 2024

Tthe Wisconsin interscholastic speech & dramatic arts association offers opportunities for students at 500 middle and high schools to enhance communication and performance skills through participation in theatre, debate, and speech activities? Provides teaching resources? And operates interscholastic contests with multiinstitutional assessment of skill mastery. Participation includes theatre festival: 1,700 students and educators from 70 schools: speech festival: 4,700 students and educators from 310 schools: speech adjudicator professional development: 430 educators.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.8%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 93.7%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.4%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.55; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 76.8% of revenue deployed · 93.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $228K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.