Boston Ballet Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042312734
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2021
- Location
- Boston, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6176956950
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $51,962,489
- Expenses
- $46,002,136
- Assets
- $98,092,651
- Liabilities
- $40,950,549
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
52 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ming Min Hui (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Mikko P Nissinen (Artistic Director): $816,563 total reported compensation
- Ming Min Hui (Executive Director): $435,998 total reported compensation
- Deborah Moe (Chief Marketing Officer): $269,638 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 heart of Boston Ballet is the human experience. Through our living and breathing art, we forge human connections-between artist and attendee, teacher and trainee, friend and newcomer, one's outer and inner self. Dance history is human history, full of innate beauty, generational memory, and contradictions. We share many characteristics that define our city, as global leaders of innovation with a rich heritage and diverse culture. But Boston's history is not perfect-and neither is the history of ballet. In order to heal as a community, we must unite against inequality, inequity, and exclusivity. We are Boston's Ballet. We believe in the transformative power of dance to inspire positive change in our community and beyond. We step toward the future, where our art breaks down barriers, opens minds, strengthens our connections to each other, and is shared more widely with all. Because the future of dance is the future of humanity.Together, we move-forward and farther-as Boston's Ballet.
What it reported doing in 2024
Boston Ballet School (BBS): provides a comprehensive dance education with the goal of inspiring, nurturing and sustaining a life-long love of dance in every student. BBS operates state-of-the-art dance facilities in Boston, Newton, and Brookline, and offers programming for students of all ages and capabilities. The Classical Ballet Program for older dancers follows a carefully designed curriculum with nine levels of study. The Preparatory and Foundations Programs for ages 16 months to 9 years introduce children to the art of dance by promoting the exploration of creativity and expression through movement. The Adult Dance Program offers classes and workshops to students of all abilities and experience levels. The BBS Professional Division at Walnut Hill School for the Arts is an audition-only, highly competitive program that provides rigorous training to prepare students for a professional career. The Summer Dance Program is a 5-week summer intensive training opportunity for students globally. Lastly, BBS operates a handful of programs intended to introduce a love of dance to the broader Boston community. Citydance, established in 1991, provides tuition-free dance programming to over 3,000 Boston Public School third grade students. Adaptive Dance, established in 2002, provides creative movement instruction to individuals with disabilities. And BBS instructors provide training workshops to organizations locally and nationwide. BBS and Boston Ballet also engage the community by providing opportunities such as attending Boston Ballet performances and special events/activities, mentoring and teaching, and performing in showcases or community performances.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 62
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.5%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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; 77th 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: 11.5%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.13; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.5% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 44 of 44 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $39.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $817K · 52 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $129K reported
- Consistency: 48 of 49 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.