YWCA Metro St. Louis

Legal name: Young Women's Christian Association of Metropolitan St Louis

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
430653618
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Saint Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3145311115
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$33,893,115
Expenses
$35,654,916
Assets
$30,727,973
Liabilities
$11,951,217

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

Leadership & pay

33 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHERYL WATKINS (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHERYL WATKINS (CEO): $327,816 total reported compensation
  • KIMBERLY STEMLEY (CFO (TERMED 11/24)): $209,315 total reported compensation
  • STACY JOHNSON (HEADSTART DIRECTOR): $206,801 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The ywca is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

What it reported doing in 2024

Women's services include the women's economic stability partnership (wesp), rapid rehousing for domestic violence, permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless women, and sexual assault and domestic violence services. Women's economic stability partnership program provides single women with school age children support in obtaining degrees in nontraditional careers that allows them to earn a living wage, and secure employment around their career choice. Women receive monthly housing, utilities, groceries, and transportation support, in addition to tuition assistance, all with the support of a life coach and financial education. The housing services are for homeless individuals and families. Rapid rehousing for ywca is specific to domestic violence. The programs helps individuals and families exit homelessness and immediately return to permanent housing through move-in and rental assistance. Core program components include: housing identification services, time-limited financial assistance, and case management and supportive services based on individual and family needs. Rapid rehousing is designed to to serve 72 women. Our sexual assault and domestic violence services are comprehensive: sexual assault response team (sart), that provides 24-hour crisis intervention to survivors of sexual assault in hospitals and police departments, 24-hour rape crisis line, individual and group counseling, drop-in center for families fleeing domestic violence, and sexual health and disability education (shade) for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Families with disabilities received specialized services for both individuals and groups in the form of counseling and community awareness through workshops and presentations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 87% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $49.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -5.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 89.4% of revenue deployed · 84.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $30.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $328K · 33 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.2M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

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

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.