Eastern Educational Television Network Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
046114548
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Boston, MA, USA
Phone
6173384455
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,023,260
Expenses
$15,233,914
Assets
$23,152,185
Liabilities
$7,331,438

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • James Dunford (President & CEO)
  • Shawn Halford (Executive Vice President, Content)
  • Judy Barlow (Executive Vice President, Growth)
  • Anand Kavalapara (Vice President, Technology)
  • Olivia Wong (Vice President, Communications)

Highest reported compensation

  • James Dunford (President & CEO): $460,950 total reported compensation
  • Paul Higgins (Chief Operating Officer, Clerk): $350,077 total reported compensation
  • Shawn Halford (Executive Vice President, Content): $341,931 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Develop and deliver valued program choices and services in partnership with America's public television community. Since 1961, American Public Television has been a leading distributor of high-quality programming to the nation's public television stations. With approximately 4,000 hours of available programming, APT identifies innovative programs and creative distribution techniques for producers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Digital distribution of educational public television programming in the United States. In 2006, APT launched the national Create(r) TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. Today, Create TV reaches approximately 85% of United States television households. Create TV is a nationwide channel produced and distributed by American Public Television (APT), New York-based WNET and WGBH Boston in association with the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Create TV features public television "do-it-yourself" series and specials on cooking, travel, arts and crafts, gardening, home improvement and other lifestyle interests. Create TV was launched to serve an increasing interest from viewers in the "do-it-yourself" genre, and was designed for round-the-clock broadcast of the most popular lifestyle and how-to programming seen on public television. To develop the national release of the Create TV channel, American Public Television (APT) collaborated with WNET and WGBH Boston, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 2007, the public affairs and documentary channel WORLD(sm) premiered; in 2011 it expanded into a multi-platform offering. WORLD is distributed by APT and is broadcast with coverage reaching nearly two-thirds of the USA. WORLD is a 24/7, full service multicast channel featuring nonfiction documentary, science and news programming, produced and distributed by WGBH/Boston, American Public Television (APT) and WNET/New York in association with PBS and NETA. WORLD's goals include the development, curation and creation of content which complements the programming seen on primary public television channels. With WORLD, local public television station licensees are able to provide two to three times more independent, nonfiction programming than is featured on most of their primary channels, and provide viewers with independent voices telling personal stories from around the globe.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 97% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.9%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.52; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.2% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $12.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $461K · 25 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $196K reported
  • Consistency: 44 of 44 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.