Forward Progress Arts & Entertainment Centers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364765690
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone
2109428833
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$224,281
Expenses
$266,909
Assets
$26,928
Liabilities
$21,932

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATSY WHITFIELD (BOARD PRESIDENT)
  • DEANNA BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEANNA BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $46,397 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To empower creative individuals to develop into authentic artists by fostering self-esteem, encouraging personal and professional growth, and providing a safe, collaborative space. Through mentorship and access to professional platforms, we help participants use their god-given talents to produce high-quality music, films, stage plays, and digital media, with the ultimate goal of creating a more balanced and inspiring entertainment industry

What it reported doing in 2025

Forward progress arts entertainment center empowers youth and young adults through creative arts programs that build self-esteem encourage professional growth and foster authentic artistic expression. Through initiatives like the eastside youth content creators program dream2screen and arrows in motion participants gain hands-on experience in film music and performance while developing valuable life and industry skills. These programs provide a safe collaborative space for youth to explore their talents and positively impact the entertainment industry and their communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 92% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -19%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.1; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.81; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.4%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -17.9% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -49.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -65.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $239K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $46K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.