Dance Data Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824819032
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-PF 2023
Location
Northbrook, IL, USA
Phone
8474412396
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$245,526
Expenses
$213,646
Assets
$40,458
Liabilities
$646

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Elizabeth Yntema (President & Founder)
  • Erica Edwards (Board President)
  • Jason Yeung (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Elizabeth Yntema (President & Founder)
  • Erica Edwards (Board President)
  • Jason Yeung (Vice President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We promote gender equity in the dance industry, including but not limited to ballet companies, by providing a metrics-based analysis. Through our research, programming, resources, and advocacy, ddp showcases and uplifts women throughout the dance industry. We focus on leaders, both artistic & administrative, and artists of merit: choreographers, photographers, lighting, costume, set designers, commissioned composers, film directors/producers, etc.

What it reported doing in 2025

Dance Data Project provides metrics-based analysis to examine the gender distribution of artistic and administrative leadership in dance companies, venues, and organizations. Using publicly available information, DDP ranks national and international dance companies based on their annual financial reporting from the IRS and other sources. We encourage the dance community to be forthright in its policies and procedures to help advance our mission toward full gender equity. In 2025, DDP released 9 full research reports and 4 Data Bytes, bringing our total output to 67 studies since DDP's inception, a reflection of both sustained inquiry and new areas of exploration: * Season Overview 2023-2024 * DATA BYTE: Nutcracker and Holiday Productions (2023-2025) * 2025 Performing Arts Center Leadership & Programming Report * 2024 Global Festivals Report * Global Leadership Report 2025 * 2025 Global Resident Choreographers Report (DDP's 60th report) * Largest 150 U.S. Ballet and Classically Based Companies Report 2025 * The Largest Ballet & Classically Based Companies Leadership Report * The Largest U.S. Contemporary & Modern Dance Companies Report * DATA BYTE: Percussive Dance Companies (DDP's first exploration of this sector) * Number of Dancers by Company Report (DDP's first study of this kind) * Leadership Transitions Data Byte (6th annual) * Revenue Data Byte (Our inaugural study) Our Largest 150 U.S. Ballet and Classically Based Companies Report resonated widely, going viral on social media with 60,638 views and 2,816 interactions, demonstrating a growing appetite for transparent, data-driven insights across the dance field. DDP's online Leader Board, an index spotlighting women and gender-diverse leaders across dance, now features 2,000 individuals, including choreographers, artistic and executive directors, as well as artisans in front of and behind the curtain. This growing resource/archive continues to serve as a tool for visibility, hiring, and accountability. In 2025, DDP announced the significant expansion of the Leader Board to the world of music, both classical and commercial, to include opera and orchestral composers, music directors, and commercial productions, broadening visibility for the full ecosystem of artists and leaders whose work shapes these intersecting performing arts fields.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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 most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 72.4%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 129.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63% of revenue deployed · 72.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $155K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.