Wisdom of the Elders Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 931164114
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Portland, OR, USA
- Phone
- 5039229803
- Rating
- 50
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Cultural, Ethnic Awareness
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $543,452
- Expenses
- $493,934
- Assets
- $116,685
- Liabilities
- $24,066
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Don Motanic (President)
- Teresa Montana (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Teresa Montana (Executive Director): $80,612 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Record preserve & share Native American oral history cultural arts language concepts & traditional ecological knowledge of exemplary indigenous elders storytellers
What it reported doing in 2025
Workforce Development - holistic approach to environmental habitat restoration utilizing Native American traditional ecological knowledge & conventional science to strengthen Native workers career engagement cultural identity and wellness
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 47
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Accountability: 26
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 50.8%; rating input score 51
- Program expense ratio: 55.9%; rating input score 56
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 75%; rating input score 75; 0th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9.1%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: Limited
Growth
- Program expense growth: -4.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 50.8% of revenue deployed · 55.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $276K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 39 of 42 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Occupancy column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.