City Hearts Kids Say Yes to the Arts La Fringe Theatre Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954036895
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Harbor City, CA, USA
Phone
3104552898
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$454,681
Expenses
$387,519
Assets
$229,887
Liabilities
$35

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ED O'NEILL (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHARLES THORNHILL (EXECUTIVE DI): $138,634 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

City hearts is dedicated to combating inequities in arts access. Specifically, we provide high-impact, holistic visual and performing arts education to underserved elementary, middle, and high school students in los angeles. Our classes and experiences are grounded in the belief that every child deserves to experience the extensively researched and well- documented academic, creative, and emotional benefits of meaningful arts education. Our initiatives are led by accomplished teaching artists who bring extensive professional experience as practicing artists, along with formal training in their creative disciplines. Through our immersive offerings, students gain exposure to creative careers and professionals while participating in programs that cultivate a strong sense of community, personal resilience, and lifelong learning skills. In keeping with our mission to combat inequities in arts access, all city hearts programming is offered at no cost to students and their families.

What it reported doing in 2025

During the 202425 academic year, city hearts served 1,010 students through 1,060 classes, hosted 17 field trips and four masterclasses, and engaged 12 guest artists and creatives. Programs were delivered across 14 sites spanning four school districts and one community resource center. In the first half of the 202526 school year, city hearts continued to deliver a wide range of high-impact programming across los angeles county. The wilson n william theatre program transitioned to a conservatory-style model at our harbor city office, expanding access to students representing 10 schools across seven cities. In october, we also launched a new short- term stand-up comedy program, with teaching artist lydia robinson leading the inaugural four-week workshop at mckinley elementary. This program introduced elementary and middle school students to the fundamentals of comedy. To further strengthen our masterclass workshop initiative, city hearts hosted four masterclasses in october and november, all led by distinguished guest artists. These included resident teaching artist ron g. Presenting the art of funny; a prose poetry workshop led by pulitzer prize nominee mathieu cailler; a video game voiceover masterclass led by acclaimed actress yvonne senat jones; and a branding & storytelling session facilitated by city hearts alumna, influencer, and actress honey robinson.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 72.8%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 14.8%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.8%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62% of revenue deployed · 72.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $282K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.