Aguijon Theater Company of Chicago

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363739535
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7734909787
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Folk Arts

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$163,891
Expenses
$157,173
Assets
$174,892
Liabilities
$466

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARIA J VARGAS (PRESIDENT)
  • WILFREDO LOZA (VICE-PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARCELA MUNOZ (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $20,750 total reported compensation
  • ROSARIO VARGAS (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $12,750 total reported compensation
  • AGUSTO YANACOPULOS (DIRECTOR): $12,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Aguijon's main objective is to explore the diversity within the Latino/Hispanic cultures through the production of Spanish language works. Wotking with ethnically diverse casts, the company continues to break down barriers even within groups often viewed as homogeneous.

What it reported doing in 2022

For nearly thirty-four years, it has been our goal to promote, foster, and showcase the diverse cultural excellence of Chicago's theater artists and performers. We've redoubled our efforts in this respect while also making getting artists and other workers paid and paid equitably our main goal now and moving forward. This year, we worked with 25 individual artists. In the fall of 2022, we were proud to, once again, be a part of the Destinos Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, produced by the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), with the U.S. Premiere of Norge Espinosa's CINTAS DE SEDA, directed by Sndor Menndez. The piece explores the role of women in a stifling machista society through two icons of Mexican culture: Frida Kahlo and Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz. The show starred Aguijn's Founder and Co- Artistic Director, Rosario Vargas (who received a Non-Equity Jeff Award nomination for her work), and ensemble members Marcopolo Soto and Claudia Rentera. The show ran October 13 through November 20, 2022 for a total of 20 performances. We remounted this production as part of Chicago Theater Week 2023 (February 17 - 26, 2023) for seven performances. Total audience: 1485 (actual; paid/comp) Outreach activities: Monthly program with directors, actors, etc speaking about general theatre work and thier projects; Playwriting contest; Cultural Theater after school program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.2%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 60.7%; rating input score 61
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 26% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -49.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58.2% of revenue deployed · 60.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $95K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $21K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2021 to 2022
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 57/100.