Creative Reuse Center of RI
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 882799231
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- East Providence, RI, USA
- Phone
- 4342422445
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $199,908
- Expenses
- $202,901
- Assets
- $32,117
- Liabilities
- $2,340
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Samantha Anderson (President)
- Elizabeth Ochs (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Samantha Anderson (President)
- Thea Upham (Treasurer)
- Taylor Ellowitz (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We save reusable materials from the landfill and provide them at affordable prices to promote learning, discovery, and creative expression
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025 we diverted 43,000 pounds of materials from the landfill, we had more than 2400 material donors, 95 volunteers, and 85 workshops and events. Thanks to grants from Brightstar, the Papitto Opportunity Connection, and the Grassroots Fund, our Programs Manager was able to build partnerships with schools throughout the state. We grew our connections with the RI School of Design by having an intern from the Center for the Teaching and Learning of Art and Design (TLAD) and participating in the Reharvest Repair project, which is based int he Interior Architecture and Industrial Design departments at RISD. This year we hosted two cohorts of Barbara Grandis Artist Residency. The cohorts met weekly for studio time for eight weeks. The artists received free memberships and were invited to utilize materials from the CRC for their creations. For the first time ever, we ran a CRC Kids' Maker Camp at the CRC this past summer. We made great use of our second location at Studio CRC this year. The space served as a gallery for our artist in residents and a venue for birthday parties, field trips, and special events with collaborators.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 63.1%; rating input score 63
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.5%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.16; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 33.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 63.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $128K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.