ETV Endowment of South Carolina Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
570657549
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Spartanburg, SC, USA
Phone
8645910046
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,606,823
Expenses
$12,546,958
Assets
$41,777,220
Liabilities
$3,168,945

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Catherine Edwards (President)
  • Eleanor Dunlap (Vice-President)
  • Coby C Latham CPA CFRE (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Coby C Latham CPA CFRE (Executive Director): $308,700 total reported compensation
  • Lauren Chivers (Financial Officer): $190,724 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The ETV Endowment of South Carolina is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1977 that provides funding for programming broadcast on South Carolina ETV, South Carolina Public Radio and other public media stations.

What it reported doing in 2024

MEMBER SERVICES - For 47 years, the ETV Endowment family of donors, numbering 46,500, has provided membership contributions to sustain the program purchase and production of television and radio programming. Since the Endowment's inception in 1977, our Endowment donors have contributed nearly $169 million in unrestricted membership funds. Every member of the Endowment is offered a monthly SCENE program guide, which highlights the offerings on each of SCETV's four television channels and two radio streams. The Endowment also sends members membership decals for their vehicles each year so others may know of their support of public media in South Carolina. Lastly, the Endowment mailed more than 3,238 appreciation gifts to our donors in FY25. Those gifts included DVDs, books and tickets to performances, all of which are associated with ETV and SC Public Radio's programming and extend the educational outreach component of SCETV.

Operating model

Revenue model
Membership-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: 14.1%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.33; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $10.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $309K · 26 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 45/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.