Americas Media Initiative Nfp
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 274273918
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3122820135
- Rating
- 92
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Film, Video
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $121,171
- Expenses
- $144,768
- Assets
- $52,079
- Liabilities
- $1,344
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ALEXANDRA HALKIN (DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- ALEXANDRA HALKIN (DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT)
- CATHERINE MURPHY (DIRECTOR, TREASURER)
- DEB ELLIS (DIRECTOR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Americas media initiative's mission is to produce, distribute and screen film and video made in the americas by community media organizations and independent filmmakers. Through screenings at universities, cultural institutions, community media centers, film festivals and online our goal is to broaden the u.s. Audience's understanding of issues faced by marginalized populations and encourage further investigation through cultural exchange.
What it reported doing in 2025
Distributionsami has 17 films in its film catalogue; a distribution collaboration with icarus films has increased our visibility in both cultural and academic spheres. Since we began our collaboration with icarus films in 2013, over 50 film festivals both national and international have requested screeners of films from the ami cuba catalogue.in 2025 we added a feature documentary, land of the whale directed by armando capo.juan antonio garcia and endac.org continue to receive praise from scholars, journalists and filmmakers. At the end of 2025 there were over 8400 entries on the site. The stone center at tulane university has committed to support for 2025-2026.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 96
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 18
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -19.5%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $130K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.