Athfest Inc Dba Athfest Educates

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
200425341
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Athens, GA, USA
Phone
7065481973
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Music

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$640,493
Expenses
$476,899
Assets
$1,197,641
Liabilities
$4,394

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • MARY JOYCE (EXECUTIVE DIR): $65,460 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Athfest educates advances high-quality music and arts education for local youth and the athens community through direct support and community-based programs and events, including an annual music and arts festival

What it reported doing in 2024

The ultimate mission of athfest educates is to advance music and arts education for the young people of athens. One way we achieve this goal is through the kidsfest component of the athfest music and arts festival. Kidsfest is a three-day celebration that showcases kid-friendly bands and gives youth an opportunity to participate in free arts-based activities appoximately 3,000 youth attend kidfest each year. Kidsfest prides itself on giving up-and-coming middle school and high school-aged musicians the stage and a chance to perform live in front of athfest festival-goers. We believe this exposure, be it for band members or their young fans, is building the basis for music appreciation and encouraging all youth to get excited about playing music. Kidsfest is free and is a draw for many of our area's low-income residents which is particularly valuable to our mission since low-income communities often do not have the financial resources needed to attend live musical performances.

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 84% 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. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.8%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $45.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 54.2%; rating input score 54; 30th 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: 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.5%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.51; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.7%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.8% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $386K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.