WORTH FOUNDATION - Working Through Obstacles Reaching True Heights

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812671329
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6146002355
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Leadership Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$69
Expenses
$2,126
Assets
$6,708
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tina D Pierce (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Tina D Pierce (Executive Director)
  • Andrew B Pierce II (Board of Directors, Chair)
  • Malcolm I Pierce (Board of Directors)

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

The WORTH Foundation cultivates leadership and promotes civic and community engagement to reduce poverty and injustices, strengthen democratic values, and advance human achievement. We envision a world of empathetic, informed, and confident leaders who contribute to strengthening communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

The WORTH Foundation began to oversee the Dr. Tina Pierce Social Justice Scholarship Fund providing scholarships to Columbus City School graduates who have demonstrated a commitment to community engagement, social justice or political activism. Applicants must be majoring in Political Science, African American and African Studies, Sociology, Public Affairs, Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies, Criminology, Criminal Justice or other social justice oriented majors at a 4-year institution. On August 1, 2025 WORTH Foundation hosted a reception to honor the scholarship recipients.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 80% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 51
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2,981.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.16; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 200% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -62.3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.2% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.