Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463739846
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Waukesha, WI, USA
Phone
2627192936
Rating
96
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$43,597
Expenses
$43,035
Assets
$104,629

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Abby Lorenz (President)
  • Jean Ericson (Vice President)
  • Sarena Lawrence (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Abby Lorenz (President)
  • Jean Ericson (Vice President)
  • Lori Roth (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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Greater Milwaukee El Sistemas mission is to participate in the global movement to create community connections through affordable string musice instruction for children. We provide skill based music instruction for children ages 4-18, in the cello, viola and violin. Greater Milwaukee El Sistema served 70 students in 2025.

What it reported doing in 2025

Greater Milwaukee El Sistema provides string musicinstruction for children ages 4-18. Skill basedinstruction teaches students cello, viola and violin skills. Exposure to group performances allows children to grow into mature musicians. Mentoring opportunities allow older children to develop leadership skills.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 97
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 98.2%; 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: 1.3%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.43; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 39.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 35.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97% of revenue deployed · 98.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $42K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.