Arden Theatre Company

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
232521993
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone
2159221122
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,092,549
Expenses
$6,700,546
Assets
$15,262,706
Liabilities
$2,498,873

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHAEL A DONATO (PRESIDENT)
  • RAYENNE CHEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • RHONDA BALL (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • TERRENCE J NOLEN (PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTO): $168,233 total reported compensation
  • AMY L MURPHY (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $161,862 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Founded in 1988, arden theatre company is a professional regional theatre company in old city, philadelphia, dedicated to bringing to life great stories by great storytellers on the stage, in the classroom, and in the community. We have received numerous honors including: 89 awards and 455 nominations from the barrymore awards for excellence in theatre; the prestigious "great friend to kids award" from the please touch museum for arden children's theatre work; and the "keystone of accessibility" by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for our efforts to make our work more accessible and inclusive.

What it reported doing in 2024

In our most recently completed 2024/25 season, we presented five mainstage productions and two children's theatre productions, for a total of 393 performances produced, 261 theatre professionals employed, and more than 94,000 theatregoers welcomed through our doors. Our mainstage season featured potus by selena fillinger, intimate apparel by lynn nottage, holy grail of memphis by michael hollinger, august wilson's king hedley ii, and jonathan larson's tony award-winning musical, rent. For arden children's theatre, we produced peter pan, based on the beloved children's book by j.m. Barrie, and the hobbit, also an adaptation of the classical fantasy novel by j.r.r. Tolkien.

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

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.7%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.6%; rating input score 93; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.28; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.9%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.7% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 27 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $168K · 27 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.