Down East Singers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
010460112
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Rockport, ME, USA
Phone
2075939307
Rating
91
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Singing, Choral

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$58,617
Expenses
$47,647
Assets
$47,377
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mary Louise Carpenter (President & Treasurer)
  • Lucy Nutter (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Mary Louise Carpenter (President & Treasurer)
  • Lucy Nutter (Vice President)
  • Ross Faneuf (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Down East Singers is a musical organization specifically incorporated to create opportunities for participation and enrichment for community members, to perform quality choral music under professional leadership, and to bring affordable live choral music performances to community audiences. This experience enables those with talent and musical interest to develop their musical potential, while at the same time striving for excellence in musical performance.

What it reported doing in 2024

FY 2025 was a year of financial stability. DES performed three concerts throughout the year, collaborating with the Mozart Mentors Orchestra, local professional soloists, and the Halcyon String Quartet. We had an average of 42 singers per semester. DES received three grants totaling $22,000 over the course of the fiscal year, including those from the Sprague Foundation, Onion Foundation, and the Morton-Kelly Foundation.

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 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. Assets have declined or grown slowly and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

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: 18.7%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.99; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $48K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.