4 Learning
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 842515791
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3204280854
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $532,817
- Expenses
- $760,363
- Assets
- $605,574
- Liabilities
- $8,307
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MANDY SMITH (DIRECTOR & CEO)
- MICHAEL LIPSET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- MANDY SMITH (DIRECTOR & CEO): $6,775 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
4 learning exists to support educators across the country to see and nurture every student as a phenomenon through the recording arts and other creative endeavors.
What it reported doing in 2024
The professional development seminar for the Minnesota department of education (mde), presented by 4 learning represents a 3-day experiential learning opportunity for art teachers, educators, and school administrators from the twin cities and surrounding areas. The purpose is to develop attendees' critical frameworks for understanding how the arts, equity, social justice, and education intersect on behalf of participants' students. Key benefits will include hands-on making in professional, state-of-the-art recording studios on the high school for recording arts campus in st. Paul, mn, as well as support developing pedagogical best practices at the intersections of the arts, equity, and education. Learning outcomes include a deepening understanding of what equity in schools sounds like, how to collaborate between teaching artists and core content instructors for interdisciplinary learning in modern creative studios, and how to develop high-level learning productions that address real world problems.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 72% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 83.1%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 41st 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -42.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.8; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.9%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 31.7% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $632K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $7K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.