Arizona Aloha Festivals Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 860921384
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Tempe, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 6026971824
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Cultural, Ethnic Awareness
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $266,264
- Expenses
- $229,989
- Assets
- $280,297
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Varen E Berryman (President and Director)
- Joel N Madsen (Vice President and Director)
People named in this filing
- Varen E Berryman (President and Director)
- Joel N Madsen (Vice President and Director)
- Robert O Bacon (Secretary/Treasurer and 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. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Primary Exempt Purpose - The primary purpose of Arizona Aloha Festivals, Inc. is to plan and produce a cultural festival providing an opportunity to educate the general public about the cultures and lifestyles of Hawaii and other Polynesian islands. Arizona Aloha Festivals Inc is 100% run and staged by volunteers. The organization has never paid salaries and/or benefits to anyone during its entire existence.
What it reported doing in 2024
Arizona Aloha Festivals, Inc has successfully produced the Arizona Aloha Festival for 30 years. Over the years, the Festival has received funding from both state and local arts commissions, local governments, corporations, and donations from the public at large. The Board of Directors provides strong financial oversight and its members come from diverse fields. The Chairperson is appointed by the Board and reports directly to them. The Chair appoints the Planning Committee which is composed of chairs of the various committees responsible for operations and programming. All Board of Directors and Planning Committee members are volunteers. The Festival's programming is known throughout the community, state, and region and regularly lands on lists of top events in the Phoenix metro area and Arizona. The strength of the organization lies in its diversity. The Festival enjoys strong support from local South Pacific Islander organizations such as cultural dance schools and performing groups, Hawaiian outrigger canoe clubs and other sports organizations, corporate supporters, donors, and more. The 2025 Festival provided a range of cultural activities to the public and to the collaborating partners. While accommodating some layout and programming changes per local requirements, we continued promoting South Pacific Islanders cultural diversity, diversity of the cultural art forms presented by our vendors, and a variety of South Pacific foods, both traditional and island-inspired. Over 150,000 people came to celebrate the Aloha Spirit and support the Festival through volunteering, shopping, eating, and being an enthusiastic and inquisitive participant in the event.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 91% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 62
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.8%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.6%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.8% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $230K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.