Word Among Us Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521320592
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Frederick, MD, USA
Phone
8007759673
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,285,637
Expenses
$14,883,491
Assets
$23,607,774
Liabilities
$8,893,008

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEFFREY SMITH (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEFFREY SMITH (PRESIDENT): $438,449 total reported compensation
  • JOSEPH M DIFATO (VP OPERATION): $269,893 total reported compensation
  • SUSAN HEUVER (VP MISSION &): $254,895 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The word among us helps over 2 million digitally and over 700,000 readers in print to be changed through a life-changing encounter with jesus christ in daily prayer and scripture.

What it reported doing in 2024

The word among us(twau) publishes magazines, books, pamphlets, and digital resources that help catholics in every stage of discipleship. The english "the word among us- and spanish "lapalabra entre nosotros" magazines touch the lives of over 600,000 catholics in north america every month. Pastors in more than 5,000 parishes offer "the word among us" to their parishioners as a way to grow as mature disciples of jesus. Twau press offers books, pamphlets that help catholics who may attend mass inconsistently in living with the lord and begin to grow in catholic discipleship. In 2024 twau helped 223,000 catholic in the pews and groups grow in their faith. Over 2 million people use our digital and other non-print resources found at wau.org or in our digital magazine edition(ios, android, kindle) in both english and spanish.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 62
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.1%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 96.7%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 72.7%; rating input score 73; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 47.6%; rating input score 48; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.59; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.1% of revenue deployed · 96.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $438K · 16 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 31 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 26 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 12 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 48/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grants require schedule f did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.