Choral Art Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237385737
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
- Location
- Portland, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2078280043
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Singing, Choral
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $221,929
- Expenses
- $188,606
- Assets
- $274,694
- Liabilities
- $11,725
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ann Elderkin (Director, President)
- Genie Wheelwright (Director, Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Ann Elderkin (Director, President)
- Genie Wheelwright (Director, Vice President)
- David White (Director, Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Through its dedication to excellence in choral performance, ChoralArt engages and inspires its singers and greater community through compelling performances, innovative artistic collaborations, and stimulating outreach activities.
What it reported doing in 2024
Concert Performances: Our season began in September with two well-received performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. In October, we collaborated with Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ and sang "Grand Opera Meets the Mighty Kotzschmar". We sang four performances of our popular Christmas at the Cathedral concert in early December. In the following weeks was our popular Messiah Sing-A-Long, caroling at local retirement communities, and a carol sing-a-long we led at the Portland Conservatory of Music. In early January we sang three performances of our "An Epiphany Celebration" concert. We commissioned a thirty-minute oratorio, "FIRE!", from composer Travis Ramsey about the 1866 great fire of Portland, and performed it in March with a small orchestra to critical acclaim. We finished our year singing two performances of "Carmina Burana" with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. We reached over 10,000 patrons in our live performances.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 15%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.46; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 55.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 70% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $153K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.