Central Works

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943188161
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
5105581381
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$315,459
Expenses
$314,576
Assets
$211,891
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Poni Bepo (Board Vice President)
  • Elisa Mikiten (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jan Zvaifler (Board member, Company Co-director): $54,210 total reported compensation
  • Gary Graves (Board Secretary, Company Co-director): $54,210 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Central Works' mission if to develop and produce new plays for the theater building a community where our commitment to new plays and civic engagement flourish together. We are committed to social justice and the exploration of pressing political issues facing our world, while inviting our community to reflect, converse and connect in civic engagement.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Central Works produced 3 world-premiere plays developed in the Central Works Writers Workshop over the previous year. We continued producing our online podcast program,"The Yay" - a weekly podcast which interviews members of the local theater community. We also continued the Central Works Writers Workshop (two 12-week commissioning programs offered to 8 invited writers).

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 57
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.7%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $243.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.3%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.7% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $225K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $54K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.