Hollywood Sign Trust
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 953247700
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 3234431923
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $151,640
- Expenses
- $104,822
- Assets
- $425,128
- Liabilities
- $40,041
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
People named in this filing
- JEFF ZARRINNAM (CHAIR)
- MARTY SHELTON (VICE CHAIR)
- BRIAN LANE (SECRETARY)
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 hollywood sign trust is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit trust formed on october 7, 1978, with the express purposes of repairing, maintaining, refurbishing, and providing capital improvements to the hollywood sign or related thereto for the benefit of the public at large and so as to help preserve and maintain the image of hollywood as the worldwide center of motion pictures and cinema arts; and shall be operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. The trust is also the official source for news and information about the hollywood sign and maintains the hollywood sign website and its social media platforms.
What it reported doing in 2024
Maintained and promoted the "hollywood" sign.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 78
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 56.9%; rating input score 57
- Program expense ratio: 81.8%; rating input score 82
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 30.9%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.06; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 56.9% of revenue deployed · 81.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $86K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2017 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 57/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.