Baltimore Childrens Choir Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
244158815
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Baltimore, MD, USA
Phone
4432207535
Rating
53
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Singing, Choral

Reported finances

Revenue
$257,972
Expenses
$35,135
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Delia Hatten (Conductor): $51,044 total reported compensation
  • Erica Ortega (Assistant Conductor): $34,171 total reported compensation
  • Joseph Shortall (Artistic Director): $16,818 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Baltimore Childrens Choir provides musical education and performance opportunities to students in the Baltimore Metro region through neighborhood chorus programming and school partnerships.

What it reported doing in 2024

Neighborhood Programs. Baltimore Childrens Choir staff provide neighborhood choir activities in three Baltimore neighborhoods. Each of these choir programs has three levels appropriate for children of varying musical ability and maturity. Students are taught relevant vocal pedagogy and appropriate repertoire, including beginning ear-training and sight-reading. All students are invited to participate in 5 or 6 annual concerts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

MIXED - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 41
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 60
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 13.6%; rating input score 14
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 70%; rating input score 70; 0th 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 86.4%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 290.4%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -145.9% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -200% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 13.6% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $270K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $51K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 12 of 16 current checks pass · 4 findings to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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: Mission deployment rate scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Assets line sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Liabilities line sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.