Californians for the Arts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
260532606
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9162961838
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Council/Agency

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,969,144
Expenses
$1,628,948
Assets
$1,250,285
Liabilities
$150,229

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Julie Baker (CEO)
  • Felicia Shaw (President)
  • Jonathan Glus (Vice President)
  • Leticia Rhi Buckley (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Julie Baker (CEO): $197,189 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission at Californians for the Arts is to ensure that the arts are accessible to all Californians; are an ongoing part of the public dialogue and to encourage Californians to care about the arts as a critical component of their own lives and the lives of their communities. We fight for arts resources and policies that benefit our members and all residents of California. Our work and support of civic engagement, arts education, cultural equity and the creative economy, positively impacts every community across the state.

What it reported doing in 2024

We conduct virtual and in person listening sessions in a program called Regional Conversations annually. We engage with our members and the public by commissioning surveys and producing a month long awareness campaign Arts Culture & Creativity Month and producing a summit and advocacy trainings and coordinating advocacy meetings.We coordinate statewide media campaigns to build awareness of the issues that impact the creative industries and are resource for the media and the industry to act as spokespeople for the arts and creative industries in California.We educate our members and the public by producing toolkits with data and narrative casemaking for awareness of the impact of the arts and creative industries in California; offer professional development trainings in building advocacy casemaking and tools; offer professional development webinars on current trends, research, policy and legislation that impacts the field.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 87
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.1%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.3%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 43.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 36.7% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.1% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 25 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $197K · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $280K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.