Archipelago Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203800166
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Traverse City, MI, USA
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $36,754
- Expenses
- $53,105
- Assets
- $22,130
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANIEL TRAHEY (PRESIDENT)
- GARRETT MENDEZ (VICE PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- DANIEL TRAHEY (PRESIDENT)
- GARRETT MENDEZ (VICE PRESIDENT)
- ARMAND V HALL (SECRETARY)
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
The Archipelago Project is a nonprofit music education organization dedicated to advocating for the musical arts through performance residency and consultation. Our mission is to help musicians realize their potential as artists creators and leaders by engaging them in composing arranging and designing innovative concert experiences. Through this work Archipelago not only empowers musicians to find and share their voices but also fosters connection - using music as a vehicle to build bridges across communities cultures and generations.
What it reported doing in 2025
Archipelago Collective Conservatory Workshops and Performances: Jan-Dec. 2025. Members of Archipelago visit various music education organizations that specialize in providing music education for underserved youth. Archipelago provides curriculum training for the programs teachers and staff and also performs creative workshops for students in these programs. Archipelago also provides administration consultation for these programs. A mix of these workshops were done in-person and virtually via zoom. In 2025 Archipelago provided consultation training performances and workshops for Soundscapes-Virginia King School-Connecitcut Harmony Program-New York Harmony Program-California Trenton Music Markers-New Jersey El Sistema USA Seminario-Baltimore Baltimore Symphony OrchKids-Maryland Johns-Hopkins Peabody Conservatory-Maryland Gilman School-Maryland Interlochen Music Academy-Michigan Chime New York.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 100
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 15
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -44.5%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -10.8% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -19.2% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $53K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- Review — Grant Readiness: SAM / OFAC restrictions: this organization returned a name match close enough to need a human check before a grant is released.