Carmel High School Ovation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
352141509
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Carmel, IN, USA
Phone
3178467721
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$485,164
Expenses
$480,194
Assets
$183,914
Liabilities
$94,519

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Lauren Walawender (Treasurer): $21,225 total reported compensation
  • Sloan Bayer (Director): $5,175 total reported compensation
  • Katie Kouns (Choral Director): $2,800 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ovation is a parent support group for the carmel high school ("chs") choral department. The chs choral directors serve as chairs of the organization. Ovation plays a key role in providing financial and volunteer support to the chs choral directors in their efforts to teach the students to aspire to musical excellence, develop teamwork skills and grow as individuals. The mission and purpose of ovation is to support the chs choral department through fundraising activities and donations of time, talent and treasure.

What it reported doing in 2024

The carmel high school "summer spectacular" is a show choir camp held each summer as an outreach to the students in the carmel community and is a recruiting tool to develop future chs choral program students. In the ninth year of the camp, 260 students in grades 5-9 participated in a week long program focusing on musical development and choreography. Each group worked with a professional choreographer and a professional choral director to learn a set of music, which was then presented at the end of the week to the community. Currect chs students serve as counselors for the proram. The camp helps connect the middle and high school students and prepares them for their future years at chs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 62% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 71
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.7%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 91.8%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $158.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • 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: 1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.38; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.51; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.7% of revenue deployed · 91.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $441K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $21K · 19 people listed
  • Consistency: 44 of 44 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.