Art For The Journey

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
465572928
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Richmond, VA, USA
Phone
8049377746
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$479,857
Expenses
$498,078
Assets
$295,489
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cynthia Paullin (CEO)
  • Mark A Hierholzer (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Cynthia Paullin (CEO): $75,000 total reported compensation
  • Mark A Hierholzer (President): $59,004 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide art programs/services supported by volunteers for under-resourced children, women in recovery/incarcerated women, U.S. veterans including those with PTSD, adults living with disabilities and training for best practice programming, and older adults living with dementia and their caregivers and training for staff of longterm care facilities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Opening Minds through Art. We provide art programs to seniors and their family members. We have Childrens school and after hours programs providing workshops. There is also a womens prison program that includes art classes at the Goochland womens facility. We have a monthly art program fo veterans with PSTD, physical wounds and those who are disabled.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.5%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 91%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $189.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.8%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.9%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.5% of revenue deployed · 91% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $453K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.