Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943051610
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2065476763
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Music
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $942,126
- Expenses
- $950,390
- Assets
- $1,997,369
- Liabilities
- $847,303
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jazmyn Scott (Vice President)
- Maurice James (President)
Highest reported compensation
- John Gilbreath (Executive Dir.): $76,549 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 ensure the legacy of the art form, Earshot Jazz cultivates a vibrant jazz community by engaging audiences, celebrating artists, and supporting arts education. Formed in 1984 Earshot Jazz pursues its mission by presenting creative music, publishing a monthly magazine, providing education programs, identifying and filling career needs for artists, and increasing listenership.
What it reported doing in 2024
Concerts & Events: The Earshot Jazz organization understands the need to earn its valued position within Seattle's vibrant cultural community every year, as it has for 40 years. Celebrating jazz as a cultural treasure of Black America, Earshot builds on the legacy of jazz in Seattle that grew from the fertile Jackson Street era. As a presenter, Earshot is widely respected for adventurous programming by creative artists who would typically not be considered viable on commercial stages. Concerts in 2024 included several national and international touring artists, the annual fall festival, and the Concert of Duke Ellington's Sacred Music. Overall, the organization produced 35 in-person concerts and 3 live-stream events, presented 299 artists of which 210 were resident artists, and distributed over 960 free tickets.
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 99% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.8%; rating input score 87
- Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -0.9%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.1; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.8% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $809K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $77K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.