Artist Trust

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911353974
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2064678734
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,090,907
Expenses
$1,170,388
Assets
$6,463,426
Liabilities
$137,365

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Joseph Sunga (President)
  • Roy Powell (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kristina Goetz (Executive Dir.): $127,545 total reported compensation
  • Gemma Grace (Director): $92,062 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Artist Trust supports the livelihoods of artists working in all disciplines to create a more vibrant and equitable Washington State.

What it reported doing in 2025

Artist Trust Fellowship Awards are unrestricted merit-based awards of $10,000 to practicing professional artists of exceptional talent and demonstrated ability. Recipients are selected through an open, competitive panel process. In 2025 there were 15 Fellowship Award recipients, including 1 Vadon Foundation Fellowship Award for Native Artists, 1 Fellowship Award for Black Artists, 1 Greg Kucera & Larry Yocom Fellowship Award, and 1 Lillian Miller Foundation Fellowship Award for Trans* and Indigiqueer Artists.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 41%; rating input score 41
  • Program expense ratio: 64.1%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 44%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.52; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 41% of revenue deployed · 64.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $750K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $128K · 25 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.