Art Papers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
581404850
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
4045881837
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Printing, Publishing

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$211,936
Expenses
$300,544
Assets
$288,042
Liabilities
$108,095

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LOUISE SHAW (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • COCO CONROY (SECRETARY)
  • JILL FRANK (BOARD MEMBER)
  • DONOVAN JOHNSON (BOARD MEMBER)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Atlanta-based and globally engaged, art papers serves the creative community and the culturally curious by expanding the dialogue around contemporary art and culture, exploring the ways they affect and reflect human experience. We do this in print, online, and through public programming.

What it reported doing in 2025

Publication of art papers magazine, a contemporary art and culture publication; presentation of art papers live, a free public lecture series; publishing of editorial content digitally to artpapers.org; presentation of contributor conversations; talks on instagram; and production of art papers exhibits, an exhibition program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% 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.
  • 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: 92
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 63.2%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -41.8%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.7% of revenue deployed · 63.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $190K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.