Writers Without Margins Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 474399954
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2015–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Norwell, MA, USA
- Phone
- 3107702749
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $40,235
- Expenses
- $69,311
- Assets
- $50,382
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHERYL BUCHANAN (FOUNDER/PRESIDENT)
- STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/TREASURER)
People named in this filing
- CHERYL BUCHANAN (FOUNDER/PRESIDENT)
- THEO THEOHARIS (DIRECTOR)
- STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/TREASURER)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We are dedicated to the fusion of art and advocacy in shelters, community health centers, prisons, addiction recovery homes, youth agencies, behavioral health programs, and more. By providing free, weekly, expressive writing workshops, we offer tools for participants to develop their craft and insight, share their stories, and connect with others. Our tailored programs are built to foster creativity and promote wellness for individuals and communities facing the challenges of addiction recovery, racism, trauma, poverty, disability and mental health. Each year, we publish a journal of participant work and offer screenings and q&a sessions of our documentary, "in their shoes," free and open to the public, in educational and health and human services venues.
What it reported doing in 2025
Facilitate free creative-writing workshops in multiple community locations. Publish and distribute literary journals of poetry and prose.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% 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
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 24
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.7%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 46.8%; rating input score 47
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -72.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.7% of revenue deployed · 46.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $32K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 9/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.