Composers Now Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812244711
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2128849914
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Music

Reported finances

Revenue
$337,906
Expenses
$261,474
Assets
$186,197
Liabilities
$16,175

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • TANIA J LEON (BOARD CHAIR & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $20,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Composers now empowers all living composers, celebrates the diversity of their voices, and honors the significance of their artistic contributions to the cultural fabric of society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Dialogues, is an innovative initiative hosted by the org's founder & artistic director, tania leon. Each dialogue opens with inspiring performances, followed by thought-provoking town-hall style conversations, culminating in meaningful exchanges, among composers, performers and audiences. The composers highlight the rich cultural diversity of nyc. In fy24 cn brought dialogues to audiences in queens, the bronx and brooklyn. Dialogues no. 12 showcased composers wang lu, fernando otero and laurie spiegel. Bargemusic in brooklyn hosted this dialogue. Dialogues no. 13 featured victoria cheah, susie ibarra, and kamala sankaram. Cn partnered with bronx arts ensemble and the van cortlandt part alliance. With the support of a grant from the mellon foundation cn took dialogues on the road - dialogues 14 was hosted at the miami light project in miami Florida. This dialogue was co-hosted by orlando garcia and featured yissy garcia, juraj kojs and milly turner. Dialogue no 15 was held in chicago, il at pianoforte. The co-host was coco elysees and the featured composers were edward wilkerson jr., sophie mcmillian-myers, and kari watson. Dialogues no. 16 held in sept 2024 was held at laguardia community college, featuring daniel blake, lisa despain, and anais maviel.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.3%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.6%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.4% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.3% of revenue deployed · 79.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $207K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $20K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.