District of Columbia Arts Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521642494
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2012
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2024627833
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $340,378
- Expenses
- $306,508
- Assets
- $252,743
- Liabilities
- $66
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sean Elias (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Philip Barlow (Chairman)
- Eames Armstrong (Board Secretary)
- Kristen Bardon (Director)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The District of Columbia Arts Center serves the Washington DC area by presenting high caliber and challenging works. It encourages professionalism among artists by providing a forum for educational and cultural exchange. DCAC was founded in 1989.
What it reported doing in 2024
In service of our mission to foster underrepresented artists in the greater Washington, D.C. we curate and produce 14 to 16 visual art exhibitions annually, showcasing local talents across various mediums. Our Main Gallery hosts 8 to 12 exhibitions, while the Nano Gallery features 4 to 6, ensuring diverse artistic expression. Beyond exhibitions, we offer enriching experiences like opening celebrations and closing receptions, artist talks, and free public programming, fostering deeper connections with the artwork. In the spring 2024, The DC Arts Center completed a historic renovation of our theater and gallery spaces, representing the most extensive revitalization effort in decades. These renovations have not only revitalized our physical infrastructure but have also created a modern and inspiring space that fosters artistic exploration, creativity, and innovation. Of particular note is the installation of a second gender-neutral ADA-compliant restroom facility.
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
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $22.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 82.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $252K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.