Friends of the Orphan Signs
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 271674294
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Albuquerque, NM, USA
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $97,329
- Expenses
- $85,035
- Assets
- $34,907
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lindsey Fromm (Executive Director)
- Ellen Babcock (Board President)
- Glenna Voigt (Board Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Lindsey Fromm (Executive Director)
- Ellen Babcock (Board President)
- Glenna Voigt (Board Vice President)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Friends of the Orphan Signs is a collaborative public art and educational initiative that revitalizes abandoned road signs along historic Route 66. FOS facilitates collaborations with local communities with the aim of designing new imagery to install in the signs as public art pieces that explore neighborhood identity. In 2025 we developed 10 artworks with 10 artists and developed relationships with 6 unique community groups and organizations. We installed 6 unique artworks on signs throughout the city of Albuquerque and two permanent signs.
What it reported doing in 2025
Symbiosis: A public art residency program in Albuquerques International District that fostered mutually beneficial relationships between artists and surrounding communities through socially engaged public art. Four artists participated in four-month residencies developing temporary artworks for installation on the sign at 6720 Central Ave. Artists collaborated directly with local organizations and community members using engagement and relationship-building to inform their creative work. One residency focused on documenting and publicly exhibiting portraits and stories of Asian American business owners in the International District highlighting the cultural and economic contributions of immigrant-owned businesses. Services Provided: Supported four artist residencies; provided stipends public art exhibition opportunities and community engagement support; facilitated collaborations with community organizations including Albuquerque Mutual Aid Art Street Off Center Arts and United Voices for Newcomers Rights; coordinated temporary public art installations; supported resource distribution and participatory art-making activities with community members; and facilitated documentary-style portrait and storytelling projects with local business owners. Beneficiaries: Participating artists; residents of Albuquerques International District; immigrant communities; Asian American business owners; unsheltered individuals; community arts participants; and the broader public encountering the installations. Approximately 900 individuals participated directly in residency activities while an estimated 100,000 individuals viewed the installations annually through site visibility and pedestrian traffic. Relevant Outcomes: Artists developed community-centered artworks shaped through direct engagement and collaboration with underserved populations and local organizations. The project elevated underrepresented voices and highlighted the experiences of immigrant and Asian American business communities through public portraiture and storytelling. The project expanded organizational relationships with communities not previously engaged through programming demonstrated the value of artist-led community process models and informed future organizational approaches to socially engaged public art. Residency activities included distribution of over 700 resource flyers food distribution efforts in partnership with mutual aid networks and the public exhibition of more than 50 community-created artworks.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.6%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 97.9%; rating input score 98
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.41; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 37.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -11.2% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 42.7% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.6% of revenue deployed · 97.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $83K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.