Cincy Stories

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811347493
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2017–2019
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Cincinnati, OH, USA
Phone
5133746482
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Reported finances

Revenue
$175,831
Expenses
$108,466
Assets
$71,934

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jena Bradley (President)
  • Shawn Braley (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Jena Bradley (President)
  • Wendy Ruehlman (Treasurer)
  • Megyn Norbut (Trustee)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To build community through story with curated live, storytelling events, mixed media documentaries and neighborhood level community engagement with the intention of combating segregation, isolation, and the negative effects of a developing city. To create space for empathy and understanding to take place.

What it reported doing in 2019

Videography, storytelling, and community building

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.4%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 97.9%; rating input score 98

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 38.3%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 63.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 36% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 76.9% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.4% of revenue deployed · 97.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $106K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2017 to 2019
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.