Ensemble Altera
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 861879375
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Johnston, RI, USA
- Phone
- 5082262319
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Singing, Choral
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $243,491
- Expenses
- $217,826
- Assets
- $70,694
- Liabilities
- $6,384
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Simon Holt (Board President)
Highest reported compensation
- Christopher Lowrey (Artistic Director): $16,500 total reported compensation
- Michael Garrepy (Artistic Advisor): $6,000 total reported compensation
- Olivia Kleyla (Administrator): $5,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ensemble Altera is dedicated to fostering a greater awareness of and engagement with all forms of choral and group singing within local and global communities. In fulfillment of this mission, the ensemble will present physical and virtual concerts; record audio and video albums; conduct educational outreach in schools, at conferences and through broadcasts; and will tour nationally and globally. The guiding principles informing each of these endeavors are a commitment to the highest artistic and pedagogical standards of performance and teaching, the healing power of music, and the essential and enduring role the arts play in representing and understanding the human condition.
What it reported doing in 2025
Performed the Brahms Requiem in Carnegie Hall, New York, with the Orchestra of St. Lukes on January 23rd 2025.
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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 49
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 65
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 52.6%; rating input score 53
- Program expense ratio: 58.7%; rating input score 59
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Missing
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.5%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.5%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 28.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 30.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 52.6% of revenue deployed · 58.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 17 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $22K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $16K · 18 people listed
- Consistency: 39 of 42 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D other liabilities reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.