Friends of the Brentwood Art Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
461058185
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3104515657
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,267,702
Expenses
$1,204,910
Assets
$798,207
Liabilities
$237,355

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lloyd Bookman (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Amy Gantman (Executive Dir.): $99,226 total reported compensation
  • Gary Paller (Board Member): $25,620 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 mission of the Friends of the Brentwood Art Center is to operate an art center to provide high quality education and instruction in the fine arts to both children and adults of all levels, to conduct outreach programs in arts education, and to otherwise promote and foster arts education in the community. The Brentwood Art Center, provides outstanding in-person and online arts educational experiences to diverse students of all ages and backgrounds, taught by an exceptional faculty. Community outreach programs include a Veterans Program, which provides weekly art classes to veterans on the campus of the Westwood VA. Brentwood Art Center has worked with other nonprofits to provide free community arts education programs at the Art Center and out in the community. During this period, to ensure equitable access to the arts, Brentwood Art Center provided financial aid to 48 students in need. Also, during this time, BAC offered 22 low-cost art workshops open to the entire Los Angeles commu

What it reported doing in 2024

Exempt Purpose Achievements: During FY 2024-25, Brentwood Art Center's Veterans Art Program provided 205 hours of fine arts training to 790 veterans, representing a 47% increase in participation compared with the prior year. BAC offers programs onsite at the Veterans Administration in Westwood.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.6%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 62.7%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5.3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.6% of revenue deployed · 62.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $756K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.