Great Lakes Planetarium Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 386146377
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- East Lansing, MI, USA
- Phone
- 2165346352
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Science and Technology N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $106,030
- Expenses
- $102,770
- Assets
- $148,583
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARK PERCY (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- MARK PERCY (PRESIDENT)
- SALLY BRUMMEL (SECRETARY)
- KATHARINE DOWNING (TREASURER)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The great lakes planetarium association is a professional organization dedicated to supporting astronomy or space science education through planetaria, and offers membership to all individuals in any way connected with the operation of planetariums regardless of geographic location. Glpa is an affiliate of ips, nsta, and imersa. Our members come from over 30 states, and at least 4 countries. They work in public and private schools, universities, museums, retired, and more.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization coordinates an annual educational conference for members, collects fees and pays common conference expenses. This activity rotates among the member sites.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.5%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.1%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.45; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 84.5% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $90K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 1 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.