Board of Governors of The Banff Centre

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
980078729
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Banff, Alberta, CA
Phone
4037626100
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard

Reported finances

Revenue
$60,623,000
Expenses
$60,043,000
Assets
$226,417,992
Liabilities
$164,440,289

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Chris Lorway (Governor Ex-oficio President and CEO)
  • Mark Wold (Executive Director leadership)
  • Josephine Ridge (Executive Director Arts)
  • Derek Fast (Executive director Marketing)

Highest reported compensation

  • Chris Lorway (Governor Ex-oficio President and CEO): $487,556 total reported compensation
  • Valerie Kapay (VP HR): $281,976 total reported compensation
  • Mark Wold (Executive Director leadership): $237,561 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 Banff Centre is a post graduate arts and leadership training institute that offers a broad range of learning and professional development with a core emphasis on arts education and creation Indigenous arts and leadership programs mountain culture and leadership development.

What it reported doing in 2024

Arts Programming Direct cost of training students in the full spectrum of the Arts

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Limited
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.77; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.73; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.4% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $51.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $488K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.7M reported
  • Consistency: 46 of 48 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX OtherSalariesAndWages column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.