Creative West

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237255426
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3036291166
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Arts Council/Agency

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$23,215,745
Expenses
$9,396,729
Assets
$23,965,538
Liabilities
$2,858,206

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRISTIAN GAINES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTIAN GAINES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $293,582 total reported compensation
  • PAUL NGYUEN (DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY): $169,499 total reported compensation
  • DAVID HOLLAND (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $160,444 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Creative west is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to the creative advancement and preservation of the arts. Based in denver, Colorado, creative west fulfills its mission to strengthen the financial organizational and policy infrastructure of the arts by providing innovative and services to artist and arts organizations in the west and nationwide.

What it reported doing in 2024

With support from the national endowment for the arts, creative west maintains a tour west and regional engagement program, which funds arts touring. "tourwest," supports the touring of performing artists across the west. The program is designed to serve small communities, and is heavily oriented towards supporting performing arts presented in small rural communities. With grants up to $5,000, these grants are modest in nature but have made a significant difference in smaller communities where contributions from government and business have diminished greatly in recent years. Additionally, private funders have supported additional granting programs managed by creative west focused on supporting artists and arts leaders from underrepresented groups. Both the tourwest program and private grant awards fund over 200 grants annually and services all corners of creative west's 13-state region and three pacific jurisdictions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 37.4%; rating input score 37
  • Program expense ratio: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $445.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 59.5%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.55; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 37.4% of revenue deployed · 87% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 24 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $294K · 30 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 51 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 45 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 37/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.