Athens Cultural Arts Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201126678
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Athens, NY, USA
Phone
5189452136
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Art Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$256,492
Expenses
$239,154
Assets
$310,400
Liabilities
$112,948

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jacob Miller (Executive Director)
  • Rebecca Hart (President)
  • Ellen Roth (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jacob Miller (Executive Director): $49,392 total reported compensation
  • Sara Pruiksma (Assoc Director): $34,759 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Athens Cultural Center enriches the quality of life in and around Athens through community events-including concerts, annual block party, and the annual Athens Victorian Stroll, year-round art exhibitions, and educational programs for all ages.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Athens Cultural Center presented ten free exhibitions during 2025 featuring the work of regional and emerging artists, community members, and K-12 students. The exhibition program included member-artist and invitational shows, thematic exhibitions, and a collaborative exhibition developed in partnership with Greene Land Trust that explored the intersection of art, local history, and the natural environment. Highlights included Esperanza, Hope: Portraits of Migration and Change in Athens, NY, which documented local immigrant stories through portraiture and oral histories. Two curated shows: Material Girl, curated by Lisa Corinne Davis, featuring abstract painter mentors including Lynda Beglis, Brenda Goodman, and Nanette Carter, and their prodigies; and Goddess: Origins of Wonder, curated by filmmaker Niva Dorell, which explored feminine identities in the 21st century and included Erika DeVries and Portia Munson along with regional artists. Together, these exhibitions expanded public access to the visual arts while supporting artists through exhibition opportunities, public engagement, and educational programming.

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 98% 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 - 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.4%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 55.6%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.92 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 6.8%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -12.5% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.4% of revenue deployed · 55.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $133K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $49K · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.