Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation

Legal name: Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
132584273
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2124059000
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$49,019,014
Expenses
$54,460,167
Assets
$260,604,125
Liabilities
$31,484,590

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BENNETT RINK (TRUSTEE/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • ANTHONY KENDALL (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BENNETT RINK (TRUSTEE/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $750,634 total reported compensation
  • PAMELA ROBINSON (CFO/TREASURER): $365,384 total reported compensation
  • MATTHEW RUSHING (ACTING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $348,888 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To further the pioneering vision of our founder, Alvin Ailey, to deliver dance back to the people.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ailey education and outreach programs: see schedule othrough the ailey school, its entensive arts in education programs, and the ailey extension, the organization is committed to bringing dance into the lives of individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Founded in 1969, the ailey school is an accredited institutional member of the national association of schools of dance and serves as the official school of the alvin ailey american dance theater. The school offers more than 300 classes weekly for ages 3 through 25 in a broad range of dance techniques. The school's scholarship program provides assistance for talented and deserving students; approximately 200 scholarships are awarded each year and the majority of finacial assistance goes to minority students. In conjuction with fordham university, the ailey school also offers a bachelor of fine arts degree in dance. Each year, ailey arts in education and community programs provide young people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds the opportunity to explore their creative potential, build self-esteem, and develop life-skills such as teamwork and self-discipline. Programs include aileycamp, a unique summer day camp program for underserved children in major cities across the united states; ailey dance kids, which presents dance classes and cross-curricular lessons to approximately 4,000 public school students in ny and nj; revelations: an interdisciplicary approach, a curriculum-based initiative that uses alvin ailey american dance theater's signature piece to teach academic subjects in classrooms across the country. The ailey extension offers dance and fitness classes open to the public, with more than 80 classes each week in a variety of techniques including horton, ballet, west african, and zumba. Since its inception in 2005, more than 125,000 people have taken classes through the ailey extension.

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 96% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.6%; rating input score 97; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.1%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.79; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.5%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 4 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 28 of 29 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $43.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $751K · 37 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.7M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.