Dance Notation Bureau Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131869805
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2125717011
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$120,694
Expenses
$237,188
Assets
$2,156,685
Liabilities
$23,245

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LYNNE WEBER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LYNNE WEBER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - VICE PRESIDENT): $32,966 total reported compensation
  • DIANA BYER (DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION): $12,235 total reported compensation
  • WILLIAM KILEY (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & ADMIN): $8,652 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 preserve dance and promote dance literacy by use of the labanotation symbol system to record choreographed theatrical dances to ensure accurate stagings, faithful to the choreographer's intention and artistic vision, for the enjoyment of current and future audiences everywhere.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education: the dnb offers correspondence courses in both elementary and intermediate labanotation, and online courses in movement observation and motif notation. Intensive one to two-week workshops in elementary labanotation, intermediate labanotation, and motif notation have been developed in chinese and have been conducted both in china and via zoom by a dnb staff member who is fluent in mandarin. We have also offered in the us and in china a one-week intensive teacher certification course (tcc) in elementary labanotation. As there is sufficient demand and enrollment, intensive workshops in elementary, intermediate, and advanced labanotation are now offered via zoom based instruction. During fy 2025 the dnb conducted two parts of a three-part advanced labanotation course that was attended by 8 students. All labanotation and motif workshops are comparable to a 3-credit college offering in the subject. Students from around the world, including the us, europe, china, latin america, and thailand have enrolled in the dnb's zoom-based, elementary, intermediate and advanced labanotation courses. The dnb conducted via zoom and in person the following course offerings during the fiscal 2025 year. Students continue to enroll in the dnb's correspondence courses in elementary and intermediate labanotation. During fy 2025, xxx students passed the dnb's elementary labanotation examination and earned certificates. Highlights: diana byer, in conjunction with the staging of fandango at the hartt school in spring 2025, facilitated a two-hour introductory labanotation reading from score workshop for the students that was taught by mei-chen lu. Approximately 30-40 students and five faculty members at hartt attended the workshop. The dnb, in collaboration with labanotation students in china completed the translation from english of a chinese edition of the elementary labanotation study guide, a dnb copyrighted book. The text was published in china in 2025.ten students have passed the elem ln exam. Three of the students who passed the exam are from kenyon college, three are from osu and one from dnb / espacio laban in mexico. One student passed the intermediate labanotation exam, and one student passed the advanced labanotation exam. Teacher certification course: preparation and enrollment completed for a tcc to be held in july 2025 in columbus, Ohio one week prior to the biennial ickl conference. Eight students have enrolled. The dnb joined the world dance educational alliance with the beijing dance academy. Nearly 40 dance education institutions around the world have become members of this alliance. Summer 2024 mexico elementary labanotation workshop taught by the dnb, in collaboration miriam huberman of espacio laban, took place from july 15th to august 16th, 2024 via zoom. Advanced labanotation course (session 1 of 3) ran from july 1st to 26, 2024 via zoom. Students from the us, china, europe, mexico and thailand completed the course. I. Advanced labanotation course (session 2 of 3), via zoom, ran from january 11, 2025, to march 2, 2025, on saturdays and sundays to accommodate student schedules. The same students as session 1 enrolled.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $42.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

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: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -96.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.09; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $197K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $33K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.