Center at West Park Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814802422
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2129974490
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Support N.E.C.
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,908,348
Expenses
$1,738,818
Assets
$1,617,709
Liabilities
$365,399

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARIAN M WARDEN (FOUNDING PRESIDENT)
  • MITCHELL SCHAMROTH (PRESIDENT)
  • THEODORE S BERGER (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DERRICK W MCQUEEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DEBRA HIRSHMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBRA HIRSHMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $335,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The center at west park is a home for arts, culture, and community in the landmark west park presbyterian church on the upper west side in manhattan. The center is a secular notforprofit organization that offers a diverse range of programs for artists, audiences, and the neighborhood; manages the buildings facilities; and stewards the restoration of its historic exterior. The mission of the center is to build a more inclusive community in the upper west side neighborhood and all of New York city by presenting diverse, engaging, and boundary pushing artistic and cultural programming; providing affordable performance, rehearsal, and event space to local artists and community members; and preserving the west park presbyterian churchs historic edifice. The center aims to create and maintain a vibrant cultural hub, a forum for conversations and connections that transcend barriers to address the important issues facing our society today.

What it reported doing in 2024

The center at west park presented numerous performances of theater and puppetry through our artist residencyprograms; provided affordable performance, rehearsal, and administrative space for other arts organizations and individual artists through our space rental program; and made necessary building improvements to restore and preserve the landmarked west park presbyterian church campus.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 50
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 38.7%; rating input score 39
  • Program expense ratio: 64.7%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 40.2%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.3% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 38.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 53.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 38.7% of revenue deployed · 64.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $335K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 39/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.