City Lights & Company
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 205462244
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021
- Location
- Bridgeport, CT, USA
- Phone
- 2033347748
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $319,661
- Expenses
- $286,663
- Assets
- $76,208
- Liabilities
- $379
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BRAD BERMAN (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- BRAD BERMAN (PRESIDENT)
- MARCUS BROWN (DIRECTOR)
- GAIL BUCCINO (SECRETARY)
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
City lights & company (cl) serves the community through art. Cl believes in the power of the arts to enrich, engage, nurture, heal and inspire. Cl provides opportunities for artists of all levels, backgrounds and abilities to present and sell their art. Cl offers a common ground for students, youth, arts enthusiasts, artists, patrons, visitors, business people and residents to experience art, meet and exchange ideas. By working with diverse populations, we hope to strengthen community relationships and improve the quality of life in the park city. Our goals are to serve the community through art, raise awareness of the growing arts community in bridgeport and make art an essential part of everyday life for the residents, visitors, and youth and business people of greater bridgeport. Cl produces the annual bridgeport art trail.
What it reported doing in 2024
Programs to enrich the learning experience. This includes visual art, song-writing, field trips for youth, movement and dance, drumming, musical performances, etc. This program provides work opportunities for local teaching artists. The concentration of free arts programs attracts attendees from the ct-ny region, supports the richly diverse cultural resource of bridgeport and promotes the creative potential of bridgeport.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 84% 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.3%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 89.5%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.3%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.3% of revenue deployed · 89.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $257K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.