Words in the Wild
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 812951256
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5105005380
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $33,012
- Expenses
- $71,908
- Assets
- $7,303
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
People named in this filing
- Alexis Filippini (Board chair)
- Carol Carr (Board member)
- Alicia Ostarello (Board member)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
At Words in the Wild it is our mission to make learning to read and write a joyful pursuit for children and the adults who teach and love them.
What it reported doing in 2024
Teaching Fellowship Program: teacher training through small group tutoring programs, professional development and support. 3 teaching fellows and 1 fellowship director received 94 hours of training and educational programming
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 78% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 89% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 8
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 47%; rating input score 47
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -117.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.1; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 47% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $34K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 47/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.