Activating Reading Communities Organization
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 934104956
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Dallas, TX, USA
- Phone
- 8063401867
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $260,375
- Expenses
- $199,313
- Assets
- $216,610
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CLAUDIA VEGA (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CLAUDIA VEGA (PRESIDENT): $42,230 total reported compensation
- HAEWON PARK (TRUSTEE): $650 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Arco is committed to championing a robust reading culture by addressing barriers to book access book ownership and by providing reading experiences that uplift dallas reading culture. The organization aims to create positive and engaging reading experiences while establishing communal spaces for interaction with books authors and the exchange of ideas within the community.
What it reported doing in 2024
Our community story times part of our Positive Reading Experiences initiative help plant the seed for a lifelong positive bond with books by creating joyful shared moments around reading. Through engaging read-alouds and interactive activities children and families experience how stories can spark imagination build curiosity and strengthen connections with one another. By modeling expressive reading and highlighting books that reflect diverse voices and experiences we demonstrate how shared stories can shape a childs interest in reading and support families in building meaningful reading routines at home. To expand our impact we partnered with community organizations and other nonprofits to bring this programming across nine zip codes located within identified book deserts ensuring greater access to meaningful literary experiences. Designed to promote literacy and foster a genuine love of reading Positive Reading Experiences creates welcoming spaces where individuals can connect with books connect with each other and begin building a strong lasting reading culture within their community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 54
- Sustainability: 60
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 60.6%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 79.1%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 9th 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: 75%; rating input score 75; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 23.5%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 67.2% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 70.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 193% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 60.6% of revenue deployed · 79.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $158K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 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
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.