Wurstfest Assoc of New Braunfels

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
741590351
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New Braunfels, TX, USA
Phone
8306259167
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,055,615
Expenses
$7,527,997
Assets
$34,369,721
Liabilities
$3,155,624

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Marc Allen (President-Elect)
  • Dan Tharp (Vice President)
  • Sherman Krause (Past President)
  • Keith Wersterfer (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jade Nicola (Executive Dir.): $155,701 total reported compensation
  • Suzanne Herbelin (Senior Advisor): $111,599 total reported compensation
  • Al Leach (Finance Directo): $55,509 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To promote trade and commerce, especially through tourism, in New Braunfels, Texas and preserve the communitys heritage

What it reported doing in 2024

Hosts an annual 10 day festival to promote local commerce in New Braunfels, Texas and promote its German Heritage. It provides a vehicle for local civic organizations to raise large amounts of money for a wide variety of community projects. Wurstfest is a special event that visitors can attend, enjoy themselves, and leave gratified, knowing that their expenditures will go for worthwhile projects.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 94% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - Most voting board members are independent and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 82
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.3%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 48.2%; rating input score 48; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 31.9%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.57; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 37.3% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.3% of revenue deployed · 79.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $156K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 48/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.