Arena Dinner Theatre Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 351368665
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Fort Wayne, IN, USA
- Phone
- 2604245622
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $267,717
- Expenses
- $279,276
- Assets
- $235,644
- Liabilities
- $-183
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Leslie Beauchamp (President)
- Scott Buckel Partial Yr (Vice President)
- Sean Arata Current (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Jordan Plohr (Director): $600 total reported compensation
- Reuben Albaugh (Director): $500 total reported compensation
- Leslie Beauchamp (President): $400 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Arena Dinner Theatre in Fort Wayne, Indiana, aims to create meaningful, high-quality productions that engage, educate, and include the community, paired with an inviting dining experiance. See Schedule O for more information.
What it reported doing in 2024
Arena Dinner Theater hosted 6 shows during the 2024-2025, with total ticket sales on the season being 81% sold. The shows for the season were: Murdered to Death with total attendance at 977 Christmas My Way with total attendance at 998 The Last Quiz Night with total attendance at 589 I Hate Hamlet with total attendance at 767 Girls' Weekend with total attendance at 781 Big Fish with total attendance at 943TOTAL ATTENDANCE for the 2024-2025 season was 5,053.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 79% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 68
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 97.6%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.3%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.84; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.8%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 97.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $272K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $600 · 18 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $165K reported
- Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.