Contemporary Arts Memphis
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 883444325
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
- Location
- Memphis, TN, USA
- Phone
- 9012100116
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,779,848
- Expenses
- $1,278,518
- Assets
- $2,131,226
- Liabilities
- $545,809
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DEREK PATTERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- LISA OPOKU (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- DEREK PATTERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $97,329 total reported compensation
- AMY KEITH (CFO): $46,265 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The organization's mission is to provide education in the arts to young adults and to support artists generally, particularly those from an underpriveleged or low-income background or who would otherwise face hardship or barriers to entry in pursuing art and art education or in entering the art world.
What it reported doing in 2025
We provide studio space, art supplies, instruction, travel opportunities, college support, and mentorship at no cost to our participants.our studio is located in the arts corridor of madison avenue in the memphis medical district. The building is home to a student exhibition gallery, painting studio, sculpture studio, a comprehensive art reference library, and computer lab space for college applications. The upstairs studio features state-of-the-art lighting optimized for painting and drawing. The downstairs sculpture studio is equipped with a kiln, ceramic wheels, and woodworking equipment. Our space is safe, hospitable, and thoughtfully curated to promote learning and foster community.what began in 2020 as a four-week summer experience for 25 high school students has now grown into an ongoing, year-round program with several programmatic components, including our summer fellowship program, teen art lab, and artist mentoring programs. In addition, cam fellows travel to New York city each summer for one week. Each spring, eligible seniors embark on a spring break trip.our program nurtures the talent of young visual artists through equitable access and exposure to the professional world of the visual arts. Our unique professional and educational programs help students develop their perception of career pathways in the arts. We work closely with local visual artists, museums, and galleries with the aim of contributing meaningfully to the burgeoning arts scene in memphis.
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 total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 60
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 72
- Sustainability: 62
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 54.5%; rating input score 55
- Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 26th 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: No; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 28.2%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.67; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.2%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 30.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 53.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 73.5% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 54.5% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $965K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $97K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.