Attitudinal Healing Connection Inc Dba The Center for ArtEsteem

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943178158
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5106525530
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Intergroup, Race Relations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,934,270
Expenses
$1,846,400
Assets
$3,925,573
Liabilities
$948,283

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Steve Jones (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Amana Harris (Exec Director): $106,290 total reported compensation
  • Phyllis Hall (ProgramDirector): $84,892 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Since 1995, ArtEsteem's award-winning academic day and after school visual arts and extended arts programming cultivates creative, engaged, and successful children and youth through artistic, social-emotional, and academic standards based skills. The curriculum combines Attitudinal Healing Principles with culurally, academically, and environmentally relevant arts instruction. This culminates with an annual student art exhibition. ArtEsteem serves over 2,500 children at an average of fifteen Bay Area school sites during the fiscal year. A sample of the over twenty awards and recognitions include: 2024 Black History Month Commendation from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, 2019 Community Award from the Oakland Unidfited School District's Office of African American Male Achievement, 2016 Best Arts Nonprofit from the East Bay Express Best of the East Bay Arts & Culture Writers' Picks, 2012 Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from former Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and 20

What it reported doing in 2024

Since 1998, ArtEsteem programmin has culminated in an annual student art exhibition. Students participate in a professional process of submitting artwork and artistic statements, and, if they choose, selling their pieces to the public. They receive half the proceeds from the art they sell, along with information about financial responsibility and higher education. The other half of the proceeeds goes back toward ArtEsteem programming. The 27th Annual ArtEsteem Exhibition theme was "Lighting our Future." The ArtEsteem team crafted this theme of replenishment and regeneration to provide hope amidst the struggles seen in students, school sites, communities, and the world. The 2025 Exhibition contained a wide range of artwork, including pieces from ArtEsteem Visual Arts, Digital Media, and Animation classes at 11 school sites, Oakland Legacy Project classes, St. Mary's Center portraits by elders taught by artist Jack Leamy's workshop, and a selection of pieces from ArtEsteem's archival collection. Our guests, staff, and parents informed us that this year's Exhibition was the best yet. (We seem to say this every year.) The 27th Annual Exhibition took place of Saturday, April 26, 2025, at Studio One Art Center in Oakland. Students submit works they wish to show and our teaching artists submit group projects from their classes. Our Artistic Development Manager is the curator. Each staff member assits to transform Studio One into a two-floor celebration of our students' passion and efforts. We created elementary, middle, and high school display areas. This year we added an animation and film room. In the main hall, the featured exhibit was shared by high school students from Emiliano Zapata Street Academy and a Special Education class from Allendale Elementary. The Digital Media Externship class from Street Academy showcased the art practice of black and white photography, with the chosen pieces enlarged to 4' X 2.5' canvases. The Visual Arts class from Allendale's project was a 3-tiered collage sculpture made with watercolor paper strips that were interactive, spinning around and amazing viewers. Our staff personally invite the parents and guardians of every student who has work on display. The principal of Allendale wanted to ensure that every student had a skill-based art opportunity. Seeing the interactive sculpture on the main floor entrance made him so proud. But it was the reaction from a student and his father that moved us to tears. "My son has never had anything on display. I'm so grateful for the patience of Miss Alexa. Look at him, he's proud, and I'm thankful.

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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 75
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.2%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 65.9%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 16th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.5%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.13; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.2% of revenue deployed · 65.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $106K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 18/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.