Words Alive
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 330857381
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- San Diego, California, US
- Phone
- 858.274.9673
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Humanities Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,164,791
- Expenses
- $1,137,715
- Assets
- $3,017,556
- Liabilities
- $81,233
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Rachael Orose (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Rachael Orose (Executive Director): $54,187 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Words Alive opens doors for underserved youth and families through the power of reading, inspiring a lifelong love of learning and empowering them to reach their full potential.
What it reported doing in 2024
Family Literacy Program inspires parents and family caregivers to make exploring books a robust family habit by connecting reading and play.Parents and caregivers receive new childrens books to grow their personal libraries and learn engagement strategies and exploratory activities to use reading as a family at home. Families report reading more often together, for longer periods of time, and practicing positive reading behaviors with their children. Offered in English and Spanish, this six-week workshop series reached 1,358 families and 1,508 family caregivers in the 2024-25 program year and distributed 8,148 books, each paired with a custom bilingual learning kit designed to bring the book alive. An additional 2,000 books were distributed through outreach events to help drive program registration and awareness at partner sites in communities most impacted by the literacy crisis.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 57
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 52
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 60.8%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 61.4%; rating input score 61
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.85 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.3%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.65; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 24.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 60.8% of revenue deployed · 61.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $699K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $79K · 19 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.