Cool Culture Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 161636968
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7182304186
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,750,709
- Expenses
- $1,503,272
- Assets
- $960,730
- Liabilities
- $87,286
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CANDICE ANDERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- CANDICE ANDERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $129,702 total reported compensation
- TRACEY GREENIDGE (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $123,320 total reported compensation
- DONIZETTI GONZALEZ (DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AND INNOVATION): $115,002 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To amplify the voices of families and strengthen the power of historically marginalized communities through engagement with art and culture, both within cultural institutions and beyond.
What it reported doing in 2024
COOL CULTURE ENVISIONS AN EQUITABLE SOCIETY THAT VALUES, EMBRACES AND IS ENRICHED BY ALL CULTURES. CITYWIDE CULTURAL ACCESS PROGRAM: The program provides 50,000 families in 450 Early Childhood Centers and Title 1 Department of Education schools with a Cool Culture Family Pass that offers families a year of unlimited, free admission for up to five people to our 90 New York City cultural institution partners. NEIGHBORHOOD-BASED ACTION PROJECTS: Brings art to neighborhood-based communities including Harlem, Chinatown, Corona, Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, building relationships between families, educators, and museum professionals who work together to develop tailored programming for children and families. LABORATORY FOR NEW AUDIENCES PROGRAM: Creates and implements a series of seminars that guide the next generation of museum professionals to develop participatory programming. WE ARE ALL CURATORS: Partnerships with museum partners to ideate and co-create spaces where our families and educators develop agency in exploring objects in their home, classroom, and community and reassess what is considered and valued as art.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 59
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 61.3%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 14.1%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.5%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 61.3% of revenue deployed · 71.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.