Boston Architectural College
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042271070
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Boston, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6172625000
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $22,487,017
- Expenses
- $23,095,959
- Assets
- $39,965,590
- Liabilities
- $23,122,241
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
32 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MAHESH DAAS (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MAHESH DAAS (PRESIDENT): $468,097 total reported compensation
- MARIA CHAPIAN (VP OF FINANCE): $223,659 total reported compensation
- JAMES RYAN (VP FOR STRATEGIC GROWTH): $202,105 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 bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
The boston architectural college provides excellence in design education emerging from practice and accessibility to diverse communities. The boston architectural college's fall 2024 enrollment was 696 students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 80% 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 most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 57
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 64.2%; rating input score 64
- Program expense ratio: 63.4%; rating input score 63
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Pass
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.7%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.73; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.7%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 64.2% of revenue deployed · 63.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $468K · 32 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.