Cantare Con Vivo

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943151337
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5108360789
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Singing, Choral

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,061,686
Expenses
$1,068,682
Assets
$360,158
Liabilities
$50,525

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TRACY GRANT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • GRAHAM SEEL (PRESIDENT)
  • CHARLENE ESCALANTE (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRACY GRANT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $73,313 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Through its work with adult choirs, youth choirs and 2,500 inner city youth, Cantare is committed to advancing social change and cultural equity by building bridges where there is division.

What it reported doing in 2024

Cantare partners with Oakland Public Schools offering tuition-free choir music education in 82 classrooms during the school day to K-5 students, reaching approximately 2,500 students each year. Students learn diverse folk songs from around the world while building fundamental music skills through a sequential curriculum based on the National Standards for Visual and Performing Arts. Special units are also included, presenting the Music of U.S history and California history in specialized sessions that pair with the schools language arts and history lessons. The highly skilled teaching artists work closely with school staff to provide the higest quality music education to every child. Cantares Nova and Aurora ensembles are comprised of 85 outstanding singers from its elementary choir programs, bringing together 6th-12th graders from across Oakland. Nova and Aurora offer students the opportunity to take on more challenging music and part-singing and participate in choral festivals and performance tours, as well as performing with Cantares adult Chorale.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.

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: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.7%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.3% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $820K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 31/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.