Bay Area Theatresports Dba BATS Improv

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943062113
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4154746776
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$938,573
Expenses
$1,000,642
Assets
$699,253
Liabilities
$104,999

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jade Shipman (President & CEO)
  • Dr Jason Myrowitz (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Marilyn Langbehn (Executive Dir.): $104,941 total reported compensation
  • Basel Al Naffouri (Director): $5,205 total reported compensation
  • Ethan Karson (Director): $480 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

BATS Improv is dedicated to the performance, study, development, and promotion of improvisational theatre.

What it reported doing in 2025

School: The BATS School of Improv is regarded as one of the world's top improv schools, emphasizing story, character, and acting over pure comedy. It offers a wide range of classes that contribute significantly to personal growth and community building. Students come from around the Bay Area, across the US, and all over the globe to participate in our cutting-edge curriculum.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 78% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 78%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.6%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.1%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 78% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $781K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.