Art Start

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411618333
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6516982787
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$506,808
Expenses
$443,989
Assets
$749,436
Liabilities
$470,189

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Anne Sawyer (Executive Director)
  • Sara Dovre Wudali (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Anne Sawyer (Executive Director): $64,944 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of ArtStart, founded in 1988, has remained constant over its 36-year history: to foster artistic creativity and illuminate the connections among people, ideas, and the environment. Our artists engage children, families, and communities in quality arts education experiences that investigate environmental and cultural themes and use recycled materials. We say we do our work at the intersection of where art, environmental stewardship, and culture come together which enables us to address diversity, equity, and accessibility issues as they relate to our paradigm.

What it reported doing in 2024

2.) Adult and Youth Development that includes community workshops in libraries and with social service organizations, school residencies, our Studio A in-store classes, and summer cultural arts camps to further our message of respect for our environment and honoring the arts of diverse cultures while employing artists from those cultures. ArtStart continued to implement community workshops working with the entire seven-county Metro library system, Washington Co., ScottCo., Hennepin Co., Ramsey Co., Carver Co., Anoka Co., Dakota Co., and the Saint Paul Public Library, as well as the Great River Regional Library system and those in southern Minnesota. Workshops emphasized cultural in twelve Minnesota counties that were free to the public. arts and reuse art workshops. In FY25 we provided 124 library workshops. * ArtStart implemented eight school residencies through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, plus twenty five additional residencies that were earned income. * It was a record summer for camp registrations. Our Passport to India Through the Arts and Teen Camp Create were filled with over 370 children ages 4 -17 years attending. In addition, for the second year we held our new Creative Writing Camp in June in Prospect Park, Minneapolis, and saw higher numbers than the previous year. ArtStart also provided client art camps to Sunny Hollow in July of 2024, and to St. Paul Urban Tennis's Artful Aces camp. * We added some new classes to our Studio A offerings for teens and adults, including Anishinaabe beading, painting on glass, and some artful and reuse programs like artful mending cigar jewelry boxes. Our popular poetry readings continued in the fall and spring, featuring both accomplished published Minnesota poets and young poets from Cristo Rey High School.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 68% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 67
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 21st 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: Fail
    • 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: 12.4%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.69; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.63; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.3% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $377K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.