29 11 International Exchange

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
844756018
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Plymouth, MN, USA
Phone
9524526499
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Music

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$375,488
Expenses
$389,019
Assets
$12,363
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Brendon Adams (Executive Artistic Director/Co-Founder): $46,000 total reported compensation
  • Gaylene Adams (Co-Founder/Operations Director): $9,675 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 organization's primary mission is to facilitate programs that give opportunity for entertainment artists from South Africa(primarily), to work with other artists in Africa, and the USA to create and develop their art while spreading a message of hope and reconciliation. Primary programs include music and culture tours and artist development retreats called "Music in a Bubble".

What it reported doing in 2024

Program Activity: Music and Cultural Tour to the USA - January through April 2024. Program Objective: Facilitate a music and culture tour with 12 African Performance artists from South Africa (10) and The Democratic Republic of Congo - DRC (2). Accomplishments/Outcomes: Participants engaged in music and culture exchanges on 83 occasions collaborating with churches, schools, universities, nursing homes, hospitals, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Chorale, MacPhail Center for Music, nonprofit organizations, and several city park amphitheater performances. Standout Accomplishment:29:11 Ensemble participated in "Young People's Orchestra" with members of the Grammy Award winning Minnesota Orchestra. With performances at over 12 schools, along-side string quartet players from the Orchestra, and 3 follow up performances with the full Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, performing for over 9000 students from schools around the Twin Cities. Other Accomplishments: The Ensemble travelled to 3 other states, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska. As a result of engaging with us, we hope audiences will become more aware of opportunities to promote kind and peaceful change as a way to address racial inequalities in their communities. Offered new ways for audiences to learn about and appreciate African music, culture and history. Future Plans: The organization will plan to have these international exchange tours bi-annually or annually as the demand and funding allows.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% 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

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 88.8%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.6%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.3%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -14.7% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -70.7% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.3% of revenue deployed · 88.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $346K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $46K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • 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: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.