Arts Council of the Morris Area

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
222012936
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Cedar Knolls, NJ, USA
Phone
9732855115
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,202,999
Expenses
$1,480,637
Assets
$989,366
Liabilities
$279,199

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Stephen Aluotto (President)
  • Merle Johnson (Vice President)
  • Brett Hertzig (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tom Werder (Former Exec Dir): $190,619 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To build community through the arts.

What it reported doing in 2024

Arts in Education: Through our Arts in Education program, we serve a diverse range of schools and other populations connecting them to assembles, workshops and customized artist-in-residency programs in the visual arts, dance, music, poetry, theatre, creative writing, storytelling, filmmaking, and environmental arts. In the 2024-2025 school year, Morris Arts served 4,300 students through 39 residencies at schools in Morris County, as well as in Essex, Somerset, Union, Passaic, Hunterdon and Mercer counties. Most of these programs are made possible through the school districts funding but Morris Arts was able to provide 4 of these residencies free of charge to provide access to the arts for under resourced populations. Another of our longest running and successful Arts in Education programs is our Young Artist Mentoring Program. This after-school program at Morristown High School works with students in need of guidance and additional instruction in refining their artistic skills, developing their own style and assembling a strong art portfolio. In 2025, the program ran for 17 sessions from October to March, 2025. The program ended with an exhibition of student artwork. Morris Arts helps fund the Storytelling Arts Program with Head Start of Morris County. This program is designed for children in preschool and elementary school who face substantial socio-economic obstacles that impede their ability to achieve school readiness and success. Storytelling Arts served 225 students with 60 sessions in 15 Head Start classes in Morris Plains, Dover and Wharton.

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 90% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 54
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.1%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 31.1%; rating input score 31; 27th 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: -23.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 99.1% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $191K · 23 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 29 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.