Beyond Booking Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271392974
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Phone
9176473336
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Music

Reported finances

Revenue
$427,072
Expenses
$401,753
Assets
$124,060
Liabilities
$15,386

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ash Casselman (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michelle Erfer (Director): $60,000 total reported compensation
  • Bryan Kasenic (Executive Dir.): $60,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Beyond Booking is a community-driven nonprofit dedicated to the discovery, development, and promotion of new contemporary music and digital creativity in New York. We prioritize the work of LGBTQ+, BIPOC, working class, veteran, and female-identifying artists and ensure their sustained creativity and professional well-being. Founded in 2003, Beyond Booking has grown from a DIY newsletter into a cultural institution with four interconnected programs: a nonprofit booking agency, a record label, an educational mentorship initiative, and a celebrated series of inclusive events. We are deeply rooted in the queer and BIPOC subcultures that shaped NYC nightlife in the 1980s - and remain committed to building an ecosystem where artists can thrive, audiences feel welcome, and music is a force for collective liberation.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, we grew the Board of Directors from four to seventeen people. We successfully onboarded all 13 new members, elected new officers, and held quarterly Board meetings. Additionally, we introduced new committees focused on communications, fundraising, social services and governance. We also formalized our conflict of interest, whistleblower, and record retention and destruction policies. Our communications department has completely revamped the website with a clearer articulation of the problems that Beyond Booking seeks to address. We have finalized a concise statement of what we do and why it matters. Our events department produced nine events with over 6,000 attendees in 2024. We have begun expanding into more daytime programming in NYC, which has been enthusiastically received by our community. Our artist representation program had yet another record-breaking year. We booked 650 gigs for artists we represent in 2024, generating $900,000 in revenue for our artists. Our mentorship and education program is still in pilot mode as we seek proper funding.However, we were able to provide over 50 music industry mentorship sessions for free to artists in NYC In 2024.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 87% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.9%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.31; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.9% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $337K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2016 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.