Friends of Bayou St John

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
203461817
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New Orleans, LA, USA
Phone
5044883865
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$531,289
Expenses
$565,458
Assets
$169,003
Liabilities
$151,179

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jared Zeller (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jared Zeller (Board President): $16,096 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Appreciation, responsible recreation and incentives for a healthy bayou st. John that is accessible to all. The organizations most significant activity is to produce the annual midcity bayou boogaloo festival.

What it reported doing in 2025

Midcity bayou boogaloo festivals contribute to the overall quality of life for residents by providing art, culture, musical entertainment, and recreational activities and opportunities to the general public. They also provide economic opportunities for stakeholders. The threeday art and music festival attracts an estimate of 15,000 people. Bayou boogaloo is a crucial outreach tool to encourage social change by motivating citizens to actively engage themselves in matters that affect their community, collaborate with other nonprofit organizations and local businesses, build awareness for local initiatives, and demand focus on art and culture.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - 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: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.8%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 92.8%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th 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: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -6.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.89; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.8%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.8% of revenue deployed · 92.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $525K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $16K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.