Women's Business Enterprise National Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
522023392
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2028725515
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Women's Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,908,078
Expenses
$18,033,855
Assets
$12,829,876
Liabilities
$5,258,686

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

Leadership & pay

76 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PAMELA PRINCE-EASON (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • PAMELA PRINCE-EASON (PRESIDENT & CEO): $523,884 total reported compensation
  • JILL SASSO (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $374,644 total reported compensation
  • LAURA TAYLOR (SR VP, STRAT FIN SVCS & WBE ENG): $338,607 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Wbenc's mission is to fuel economic growth globally by identifying, certifying, and facilitating the development of women-owned businesses.

What it reported doing in 2024

Events: events is comprised of two annual, in-person conferences. The national conference, wbenc's signature event, is the largest conference of its kind for women business owners, welcoming thousands of women entrepreneurs and corporate executives ready to make connections and do business. The 2024 conference was held in denver, co and included approximately 4,800 attendees. The november event is a smaller, invite-only conference. It includes three days of customized programming, meaningful connections, and a live presentation of the wbencpitch competition final round. In 2024, the november event was held in Washington, dc. And included approximately 500 attendees.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 81% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 99
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 98.5%; rating input score 99; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 98.5%; rating input score 99; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: -6.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.5%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.1% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 67 of 68 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 7 filed program accomplishments · $15.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $524K · 76 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 23 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 14 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.