WOW International

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954322095
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
Altadena, CA, USA
Phone
6262968800
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$333,728
Expenses
$290,847
Assets
$147,751
Liabilities
$6,744

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LINDA TAVANI (Vice President)
  • STEPHEN TAVANI (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • LINDA TAVANI (Vice President): $76,750 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN TAVANI (President): $75,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The primary purpose of this Organization is to mobilize local volunteers, churches, businesses and organizations to share the love of Jesus Christ with the inner city in practical, loving ways.

What it reported doing in 2020

After 29 years of doing over 400 WOW JAM outreaches across the USA and concerts over seas, they all had to be cancelled becasue of the Covid. WOW pivoted and did online music videos, live stream meetings, zoom conferences, podcasts interviews and writing material for books and manuals. 676,548 people were touched including down loads, live stream, all music platforms, TIK TOK, reels IG, FB Twitter and podcasts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 56
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 11th 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: 60%; rating input score 60; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 12.8%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.51; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 52.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.9% of revenue deployed · 79% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $230K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $77K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2014 to 2020
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.