Capital Fringe Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030561944
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2027377230
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $94,648
- Expenses
- $270,621
- Assets
- $749,659
- Liabilities
- $550
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Julianne Brienza (PresidentSecretary): $108,156 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Capital Fringe was founded in 2005 with a mission to celebrate cultural democracy and access to art and artistic expression for all. By embracing diversity and a spirit of independence, we create earning opportunities for individual artists.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025, Capital Fringe made the difficult decision to cease production of the annual Capital/DC Fringe Festival after two decades. This decision followed years of effort to build and sustain stable infrastructure for large-scale open-access live performance amid the steady loss of affordable and proximate venues across Washington, DC. Fringe festivals require a dense cluster of spaces capable of supporting more than one hundred productions annually; while Capital Fringe achieved this for a time in Downtown DC at Fort Fringe and later across multiple neighborhoods including H Street NE/Trinidad, Southwest DC, Georgetown, and Downtown DC, the long-term erosion of venue availability and rising costs made continuation unsustainable. Over twenty years, Capital Fringe activated 158 venues, nearly two thirds of which no longer exist. While the festival has concluded, Capital Fringe continues its mission through new program models, including the launch of the Ed Tyler Fringe Touring Fund and through fiscal sponsorship of independent artists and producers across the DMV. These programs extend Capital Fringes commitment to open access, experimentation, and artist support beyond a single annual event and into sustainable, future-facing forms.
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.
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: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 69.2%; rating input score 69
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th 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: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 25th 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -185.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.77; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 40%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -11.3% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -19% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -5.9% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 69.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $187K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.