Ann Arbor Spark
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 382436899
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Phone
- 7347619317
- Rating confidence
- Limited
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $12,807,921
- Expenses
- $11,301,566
- Assets
- $19,044,143
- Liabilities
- $5,627,948
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
36 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Paul Krutko (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Paul Krutko (President & CEO): $438,044 total reported compensation
- Phil Santer (Business Development V.P.): $200,760 total reported compensation
- William Mayer (Entrepreneurial Srvs V.P.): $184,204 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ann Arbor SPARK advances the region by encouraging and supporting business acceleration, attraction, expansion and retention. Our organization identifies and meets the needs of companies at every stage, from start-ups to large organizations. Ann Arbor SPARK collaborates with business, academic, government and community investment partners to position the region as a destination for innovation.
What it reported doing in 2024
Business Incubator/Accelerator Services: SPARK creates long-term regional prosperity by accelerating the growth of start-ups and early-stage companies through support by offering direct and consultant services. SPARK creates a place where early-stage companies can conduct business at affordable rates and can co-locate with other entrepreneurs and in the eco-system. SPARK offers those companies educational and networking events in the incubator space. We create an ecosystem whereby start-ups can connect easily with resources they need at early stages to launch and establish, thus attracting start-ups to this region. This supports growth in the companies themselves, the direct support services, and the region's economy, creating a virtuous cycle of economic growth. SPARK is part of the award-winning Global Epicenter of Mobility (GEM) program, administering the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) component of the program. In 2024, SPARK assisted 457 innovation start-ups which currently employ 1,154 Full Time Employees. SPARK nutured 156 incubator tenants.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 83% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 57
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 96.6%; rating input score 97; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.8%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.69; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.2%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 28 of 29 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $438K · 36 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $958K reported
- Consistency: 11 of 12 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 20 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 13 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.