World Leadership Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270490843
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
3036793412
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$76,271
Expenses
$46,314
Assets
$156,988
Liabilities
$283

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Bruce Miller (Board Member)
  • Erin Hawk (Board Member)
  • Ross Wehner (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

World Leadership Foundation's mission is to partner with K-12 schools worldwide to bring greater purpose to learning. Our vision is that K-12 education can, and should be, the ultimate platform for launching children into lives of purpose. World Leadership Foundation accomplishes its mission by partnering with schools on school transformation efforts across the globe. We also work to support our long-term partner communities in the USA and 10 countries around the world. WLF has most recently accomplished its mission by creating and refining K12 Change Lab (www.k12changelab.org), a program that helps schools make cost-effective and strategic change to improve learning and strengthen the school community. K12 Change Lab is an 18-month change partnership program for school teams that includes coaching, on-site visits, and a 3-day learning conference, which took place at Georgetown Day School (Washington, DC) from October 4-6, 2025. Since its founding in 2010 and as of December 2

What it reported doing in 2025

World Leadership Foundation launched the first cohort of K12 Change Lab (www.k12changelab.org) by recruiting eight schools.K12 Change Lab is an 18-month change partnership program, spread over three school years, in which cohorts of schools learn together as they work to transform the learning experience at their schools. The first cohort begin in April 2025 and concludes September 2026. WLF, via K12 Change Lab, received income from the following schools: Chapin School (NY, NY), Georgetown Day School (Washington, DC), The Field School (Washington, DC), Barrie School (Silver Spring, MD), Grace Episcopal Day School (Kensington, MD), American International School (San Jose, Costa Rica), Echo Horizon School (Culver City, CA), and Sussex School (Missoula, MT).

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and a relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 36
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.4%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 94.1%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 0%; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 39.3%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.39; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -19.7% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56.4% of revenue deployed · 94.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $44K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.