Freedom Arts and Education Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
461476978
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Saint Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3147953803
Rating
45
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Reported finances

Revenue
$193,403
Expenses
$191,522
Assets
$8,730
Liabilities
$4,365

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Toni Connors (Board President)
  • Emanuel Powell (Board Vice President)
  • Andrew Gibson (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Andrew Gibson (Executive Director): $26,188 total reported compensation
  • Ismael Dela Cruz (Director of Program Integrity): $24,963 total reported compensation
  • Nicole Ellis (Lead Teaching Artist): $16,850 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Freedom Arts and Education Center creates artistic academic and advancement opportunities to feed heal and teach the youth of St. Louis. Since 2012 we have supported youth through accessible community arts programs educational resources academic enrichment and tutoring in-school advocacy job opportunities and mentoring.

What it reported doing in 2025

Arts: Our Arts programs ensure that the arts reach youth in systemically divested parts of the St. Louis region. We provide community arts training arts learning and arts education experiences in both in-school and out-of-school hours. Youth learn to create and consume art that is culturally relevant challenging to the status quo and uplifting to the community. They learn to leverage the arts to empower each other to build sustainable creative lives. 882 youth across the St. Louis region received ongoing arts education and learning experiences.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

MIXED - 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: 0
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 80%; rating input score 80; 1st 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: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.05; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -29.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 42 current checks pass · 10 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Advertising column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX CompCurrentOfficersDirectors column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesAccounting column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Insurance column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Occupancy column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX OfficeExpenses column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX PayrollTaxes column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Travel column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.