Berkeley Playhouse Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942626454
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
5108458542
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,850,708
Expenses
$2,912,805
Assets
$3,203,512
Liabilities
$1,170,132

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tim Choate (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kimberly Dooley (Artistic Dir.): $102,000 total reported compensation
  • Mary Lins (Executive Dir.): $102,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To produce music theater that engages, inspires and entertains audiences of all ages. We train and educate theatre artists and enthusiasts from children to late life learners. We believe in the essential power of music theatre to celebrate, inform and interpret our common humanity.

What it reported doing in 2024

The 2024/25 mainstage season brought audiences five fantastic shows: The Prom, Seussical The Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Sound of Music, closing with the YouthStage Spotlight show, Something Rotten; serving over 22,000 patrons. We also ran a full year of educational programming serving over 1500 kids. Berkeley Playhouse continued to ensure that diverse audiences were represented in our programming organization wide, through education scholarships and community outreach. We provided 65 full or partial financial aid & scholarship packages to families, and we upheld our commitment to making live theater accessible to patrons who would be otherwise unable or unlikely to attend, providing a total of 1,472 value tickets during the 2024/25 season.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 93% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.8%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 75%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.2%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.8% of revenue deployed · 75% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.