Writing by Writers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
460737638
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Los Altos, CA, USA
Phone
6504342365
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$298,237
Expenses
$271,614
Assets
$182,475
Liabilities
$16,463

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Pam Houston (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Karen Nelson (Treasurer CFO): $57,600 total reported compensation
  • Pam Houston (President): $51,909 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To create a rigorous compassionate and inclusive environment to learn the art of reading and writing from accomplished authors.

What it reported doing in 2025

Manuscript Boot Camp: a 5 day writing workshop for the writer who has a book-length manuscript and would like to engage with a small group for a serious and productive response. 4 workshops help with 20 total attendees. DRAFT: an intensive two-year program for 15 writers who are committed to completing a draft or a novel memoir short story collection or essay collection. 1 workshops held with 15 total attendees.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 96% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 53
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 98.4%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.9%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 40.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -23.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 98.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $267K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $58K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 38 of 40 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX InformationTechnology column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.