Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473790971
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Salem, MA, USA
Phone
4013598101
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Visual Arts Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$211,332
Expenses
$155,091
Assets
$163,495
Liabilities
$19,459

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHELLE PAROLINE LAMB (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

People named in this filing

  • BRIGID ALVERSON (SECRETARY)
  • MICHELLE PAROLINE LAMB (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • REBECCA VIOLA (TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

BCAF believes in the power of comics to inspire educate and bring people together. BCF helps promote spaces for both creators and readers to find one another exchange ideas and grow as a community.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Boston Comics in Color Festival BCICF is a free annual comic arts festival that highlights and celebrates creators of color. The festival features over 100 artists and 15 public panels and workshops that center BIPOC voices and experiences in comics and illustration. BCICF serves 1,500 attendees annually provides educational programming to approximately 500 participants and engages 60 volunteers. The event advances equity and representation in the comic arts field.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.2%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 97.4%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $822.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 9th 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: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 26.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.05; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 45.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 58.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.2% of revenue deployed · 97.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $151K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.