Write the World Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, write the world experienced continued growth in its programs and their impact. The organization's financial performance remained strong with total revenues (from program services, charitable contributions, and grants) exceeding operating expenses by $297,008, representing a 17% positive margin. This calculation excludes non-cash amortization expenses for capitalized software assets of the organization.global writing community: the write the world (wtw) free global writing community reached 15,489 teenage members and 891 educators from 125+ countries and all 50 us states in 2024. The top 5 countries were: us (51%), india (8%), australia (6%), canada (6%), and the united kingdom (4%). The top 5 states were: California, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida. Students published 12 million words, gave 3,282 peer reviews (a key learning tool), posted 211,686 comments, published 35,337 unique pieces across 35 genres, and read 225,795 pieces. Each published piece was read, on average 7 times by students across the world. Top genres were free writing, poetry, fiction, short story, and flash fiction. As a measure of our global impact, students from around the world made about 300,000 international connections in 2024. The length of writing ranged from shorter pieces of a few words each, to the longest piece of 10,000 words. Students spent an aggregate total of 24,000 hours engaging on wtw's website. Global monthly writing competitions: writing competitions engage students in a form of varsity academics. Competitions challenge students to write their best, gain recognition, and build confidence in their expressive abilities. Competitions were the largest source of new student members in 2024. Competitions encourage students to write in a variety of genres, receive feedback, revise drafts, and are judged by experts in 3 categories. In 2024, 4,685 students submitted 6,001 pieces in 12 genre-based competitions. Top genres were short story, flash fiction, and poetry. Notable judges included: avanti nagral (indian pop singer and content creator), neel patel (op-ed editor at the New York times), malika booker (award-winning british-caribbean poet and artist), james marcus (former editor-in-chief of harper's magazine), katherine arden (ya fantasy novelist), and jamie quatro (american fiction writer). Wtw staff gave 515 expert reviews to competition entrants. 34 students received prizes in categories of winner, runner-up, and best peer review and about 100 students received honorable mentions. In 2024, patagonia sponsored our environmental writing competition and published 6 pieces from young writers around the world in their spring 2024 journal, and reedsy sponsored our flash fiction competition.writing content moderation: wtw's trained moderation team reviewed 40,355 pieces and 3,282 peer reviews to ensure the character and integrity of the site while supporting writers' wellbeing. Our ai-powered moderation system scores all content published on the global platform. Potentially concerning content is flagged and sent to the moderation team for a final decision. To safeguard young writers' creativity, written work is always unpublished by a human, not ai. Our moderators follow up with writers and provide support resources as needed, such as when writing discloses concerning mental health issues, following a process developed in consultation with child psychologists. Student writing journal: wtw published the online journal, named write the world review, on the theme of: artificial intelligence. The journal featured work by 8 students from 6 countries and was distributed to over 20,000 students, teachers, alumni, parents, and subscribers worldwide. Writing programs for educators: traditionally, writing curricula follow a rote, linear process that does not reflect real-world writing or feel relevant to students. That is why, at write the world, we prioritize the creation of virtual classroom groups, writing prompts, cross-genre competiti

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 75.8%; rating input score 76
• Program expense ratio: 65.5%; rating input score 65
• Fundraising efficiency: $13.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -15.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 17.3%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 36.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -40.2% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -7.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings