Friends of Mvyradio Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463432541
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2013
Location
West Tisbury, MA, USA
Phone
5086935000
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking Foundations N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,138,513
Expenses
$2,610,479
Assets
$6,258,981
Liabilities
$627,966

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

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PAUL J FINN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • PAUL J FINN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $128,726 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Wmvy's goal is to serve the communities of martha's vineyard and cape cod and to reflect the voice and spirit of those who live here, through the station's programming and personalities. Mvy works hard to provide the community with reliable, current information surrounding basic needs such as weather, tides, sea conditions, ferry and airline service, school closings, traffic information, emergency management messages and other vital services. The station provides local and national news and broadcasts public service announcements for local nonprofit organizations.

What it reported doing in 2025

The station produces several locally-focused feature programs. "the mvyradio person of the week" is a 3 minute first person portrait of a local individual who is creating a community benefit. We spotlight over 50 individuals each year. On sunday mornings, we air a 30 minute "news magazine" format program called "the vineyard current." this program has won a dozen Massachusetts broadcasters association awards. The program begins with a weekly news round-up featuring reporters from the vineyard gazette, followed by profiles of people and organizations that make martha's vineyard tick. This show has a companion program called "the cape cod current" which follows a similar format, instead focusing on cape cod residents and organizations. Through these programs, hundreds of local individuals and organizations are given a voice on the air. In the summer, we have a 10-week limited podcast series, "vineyard happenings" which provides event information and coverage aimed at the island's summer community of african-american visitors. And we helped relaunch "shed" a podcast series that discusses race with vineyard-connected individuals. To cover local music, we have several programming features and in-person events. On tuesdays, we air the weekly one-hour program "the new england sound" (formerly, "the local music cafe") which spotlights local/new england-based independent musicians. We also do a one-song segment called "keeping it local" which features a cape & islands musician. This airs twice per week. On sundays at 7pm, we air "woodstove studios presents." hour long concerts and interviews are recorded at peter halperin's home studio in west tisbury and broadcast weekly.we held our annual night out for nonprofits. We invite representatives from the over 200 nonprofits on the island for a cocktail hour, and then bring in the general public for a fun night with live music and food. Money collected at the door benefits the mv donors collaborative, which holds educational training for nonprofit leaders.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% 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

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: 46
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 46.6%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 55.7%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 95.8%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.8%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.4; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.9%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 46.6% of revenue deployed · 55.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 24 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 24 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.