Arkansas Learning Through the Arts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454315944
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hot Springs Village, AR, USA
Phone
5013023175
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Arts Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$218,782
Expenses
$217,503
Assets
$96,707
Liabilities
$15,509

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARTHA SMITHER (Board President)
  • KAREN BRYAN (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • MARTHA SMITHER (Board President)
  • STEVE LUX (Board Vice Pres)
  • ROB BOWERS (Treasurer)

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

Arkansas Learning Through the Arts has the mission to improve student achievement by igniting their interest in learning.

What it reported doing in 2024

Arkansas Learning Through the Arts places arts programs in classrooms to inspire young people to expand their learning through the arts. The programs support teachers by enhancing the curriculum, lession and subjects they are working on with students. Fifteen contracted professional teaching artists engage students in learning through art forms, e.g creating poetry, writing and performing songs, expressing characters through dance, or drumming rjythmically on African drums. ALTTA offers over 100 unique workshops spanning Pre-K through 12th grade. In the 2024-25 school year ALTTA held programming in 28 schools and libraries and served over 2,900 students in the regular classroms. There is no way to know how many students

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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.3%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 71.7%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.6%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.3% of revenue deployed · 71.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $156K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.