House of Speakeasy Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463820173
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2123531447
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Mutual/Membership Benefit N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$688,736
Expenses
$568,579
Assets
$641,453
Liabilities
$205,077

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIEL GALLANT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL MARCH 2025))
  • DANA POINTS (INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL JUNE 2024))

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL GALLANT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL MARCH 2025)): $76,489 total reported compensation
  • DANA POINTS (INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL JUNE 2024)): $64,656 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 organization is dedicated to supporting and promoting the art of writing through providing entertaining and innovative ways for writers of all forms and genres to reach their audiences.

What it reported doing in 2024

Seriously entertaining: house of speakeasy presented seven seriously entertaining literary cabaret shows featuring 40 writers and reaching over 1,600 guests. Speaktogether: coordinated 4 in-school author events, one four-week in- school storytelling workshop series, three one-week writing workshops and one five-week college essay writing workshop. In total these programs provided almost 2,000 instructional hours to 566 students and distributed more than 1,000 books. Speakfreely: throughout the year, speakeasy made it possible for high school teachers to receive complimentary access to seriously entertaining programming. Speakeasy bookmobile: the bookmobile traveled across New York city distributing free books for a total of 38 activations between april and december 2023 in neighborhoods such as bed-stuy and harlem. In total we distributed more than 10,000 books to children, adults and seniors and reached more than 6,500 nyc residents.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 54
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.4%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 61.2%; rating input score 61
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.8%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.4% of revenue deployed · 61.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $348K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $76K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 51/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.