Bayarts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
340978368
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Bay Village, OH, USA
Phone
4408716543
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$950,369
Expenses
$995,297
Assets
$1,754,304
Liabilities
$105,279

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARY SULLIVAN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BETH MILLI (EXECUTIVE DI): $91,756 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 mission of bayarts is to provide a welcoming lakeside environment to stimulate, encourage and support professional and aspiring artists of all ages through collaboration, education and exhibition.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, bayarts continued to thrive as a vibrant cultural hub, deepening its impact through expanding programming, strong community engagement, and meaningful facility improvements. Attendance, participation, and visibility all reflected steady growth and a renewed enthusiasm for the arts across our region. Programmatic highlights our arts programming continued to grow in both scale and reach. The annual juried show was one of our most successful to date, receiving over 500 entries in 2025, underscoring bayarts' reputation as a respected regional arts destination. Additional visual arts highlights included the annual ceramics show and the fall plein air festival, each drawing artists and visitors from across northeast Ohio. Signature community events remained a cornerstone of our mission. The art + music festival, thursday markets, and free sunday concerts welcomed thousands of visitors to campus, fostering accessibility, creativity, and connection in an inclusive outdoor setting. Our summer camps program continued to be foundational to our educational mission, serving more than 1,500 students and offering high-quality, engaging arts experiences for young people throughout the summer months. Fundraising and community-building events also flourished. Moondance, our annual fundraiser, was a standout success, and rental events-including weddings, birthday celebrations, graduation parties, and private gatherings-continued to bring new audiences to bayarts while supporting our sustainability. Seasonal and retail success the 2025 holiday season was one of our strongest yet. Our holiday extravaganza featured a visit from santa, festive carriage rides, and a performance by the bay choraleers, creating a memorable community celebration. The accompanying open house of our artisan shop, showcasing work by more than 70 local artists, was exceptionally well attended and provided vital support for regional creatives. Facility improvements significant progress was made on facility enhancements in 2025. A new roof was completed on the playhouse, now proudly known as the bayarts cultural center, preserving this important historic structure for future generations. Additionally, new concrete walkways were installed in the bayarts sensory garden, improving accessibility and setting the stage for continued development of this unique space.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 64% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.98 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: 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.7%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.76; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.9% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $835K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.