PLATINUM2023

WASHINGTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE

aka WUDL   |   Washington, DC   |  www.urbandebatewashingtondc.org

Mission

Washington Urban Debate League (WUDL) uses debate to make transformative opportunities available for students in the Greater Washington area. Peer-reviewed research shows competitive debate as one of the best things a student can do with their out-of-school time, building life-long and career-oriented skills that cannot be automated or outsourced. Debaters show more substantial academic and social-emotional growth and graduate and attend college at a higher rate than their non-debater peers. Sadly, debate is traditionally only found at elite private and suburban schools. WUDL creates a space where middle and high school students attending public schools (especially Title 1 Schools) can hone their critical thinking and advocacy skills and build an intellectual community of their peers.

Ruling year info

2016

Chair of the Board

Chris Mahoney

Main address

5101 34th St NW

Washington, DC 20008 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

47-4987160

NTEE code info

Student Services and Organizations (B80)

Youth Development Programs (O50)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Public schools in the Washington Metropolitan area don't offer and/or support competitive, high quality debate programs for middle or high school students. Participation in competitive debate programs can be a game changer for student learning outcomes, from increased grades and test scores to attendance, graduation, and college attendance rates. The WUDL provides high quality debate programs to middle and high school students attending public schools. We train teachers to be debate coaches and to implement debate into their curriculum, host weekend tournaments, travel to regional competitions, and provide all the resources necessary for students to become great debaters (and get the educational benefits of debate). We don't charge students, parents or schools for any of our programs, and try to remove all barriers to participation.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

After School Debate

Policy Debate for students in grades 6-12

Population(s) Served

Taking our best students to regional competitions

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Economically disadvantaged people

Encouraging our students to engage in debates within their communities.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
At-risk youth

Working with DCPS to get all 8th graders to debate about race and criminal justice reform

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

Working with the Citi Foundation to provide Financial Literacy Debates as a way to teach financial literacy concepts.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

Modified debate for upper elementary school students

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Economically disadvantaged people
Children and youth
Economically disadvantaged people

Where we work

Awards

Urban Debate League of the Year 2018

NAUDL

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Ethnic and racial groups, Economically disadvantaged people, At-risk youth

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Volunteers are critical to our organization's success. We were recognized as having the best volunteer program among all of the Urban Debate Leagues around the county in 2015, 2016, and 2017

Rate of student attendance during the reporting period

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

After School Debate

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Research proves that participation increased academic and social-emotional growth among participants. See https://urbandebatewashingtondc.org/our-impact/ for details

Number of students who demonstrate the desire to succeed in the academic setting

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

After School Debate

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

We survey students each year, and they identify a 19 percent increase in interest in academics compared to the beginning of the year

Number of teachers trained

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

After School Debate

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

-Bring quality debate programs to every public middle and high school in DC and Prince George's County
-To support competitive after school teams at each school
-To train teachers across the DMV to implement debate techniques in the classroom
-To host high quality tournaments for students across the DMV
-To improve grades, test scores, and social-emotional learning for debaters across the region

Research proves that debate is a game changer for students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We make debate accessible and free for students it wouldn't normally reach.

We have an experienced staff, dynamic and engaged board, and legions of dedicated, experienced volunteers that raise money, work with schools as coaches, judges, and mentors. We have support from D.C. Public Schools and Prince George's County Public Schools, and the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues.

We've grown from working with 120 students from 7 schools to more than 500 students from 40 schools. Next, we'll continue to expand to more schools and more students, and offer more travel opportunities, budget and staffing capacity allowing.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time

Financials

WASHINGTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

WASHINGTON URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE

Board of directors
as of 08/31/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Chris Mahoney

Mercer

Erik Jaffe

Erik S Jaffe P.C.

Michael Shue

DDC Consulting

Alex Lennon

Washington Quarterly

Ellen Oberwetter

Williams Connolly

Donald Klawiter

Shepard Mullin Richter Hampton LLC

Tristan Morales

O'Melveny and Myers

Marc Goldman

Massey and Gail

Joe Terry

Williams Connolly

Arielle Giordano

Canadian Pacific Railroad

Peggy Hamilton

Small Business Administration

Jay Cox

Clarke Construction

Kit Pierson

Cohen Milstien LLC

Guillermo Vidaurre

Omnia Partners

Oliver Crandall

Royal Bank of Canada

Shawn Leonard

Chubb Insurance

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/31/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 08/31/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.