Choral Chameleon Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263793632
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2022
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
3473520340
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Singing, Choral

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$369,737
Expenses
$305,363
Assets
$22,886
Liabilities
$39,220

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Karen M Beluso (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Vince Peterson (Artistic Director): $16,500 total reported compensation
  • Ronald Romano (Education Director): $9,300 total reported compensation
  • Sandra Bumgarner (Managing Director): $9,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Choral Chameleon provides Choral Music Experiences without barriers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Concerts and Performances: Choral Chameleon presented live choral performances through its professional ensemble, including its flagship season concerts and contracted performance engagements for outside institutions. During the year, the organization presented Hide and Seek in collaboration with Contemporaneous, featuring the world premiere of HEAPS by Zachary Ritter along with works by Sandra Garner and Will Healy. The organization also presented Hunger, a choral program exploring themes of justice, equality, visibility, and human longing through repertoire spanning five centuries. In addition to its own produced concerts, Choral Chameleon performed as a hired professional ensemble for educational institutions, religious communities, and community-based organizations. Through these activities, the organization advanced contemporary choral music, supported artistic collaboration, and expanded access to high-quality vocal performance.

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 99% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 51
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.1%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.4%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.07; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.71; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.4%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.1% of revenue deployed · 87.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $267K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $16K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.