Hyde Park Art Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362887294
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7733245520
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Visual Arts Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,318,782
Expenses
$3,774,793
Assets
$11,045,644
Liabilities
$133,507

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

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AARON RODGERS (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JENNETTE TREMBLAY CHAMBERS (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • AARON RODGERS (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $150,591 total reported compensation
  • JENNETTE TREMBLAY CHAMBERS (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $143,884 total reported compensation
  • DEVON HALL (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $99,662 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The purpose of the hyde park art center (the art center) is to stimulate and sustain the visual arts in chicago. It does so by challenging and supporting artists, connecting artists to a broader public, and creating a community of people who are interested in the visual arts. The art center's flagship programs provide opportunities for anyone to see, make, learn about, and discuss art.

What it reported doing in 2025

Oakman clinton school & studios: the art center's open-access community-based school - the only art school of such breadth on chicago's south side provides high-quality training in the visual arts by professional working artists with 2,000 enrollments annually. The school and studios are comprised of a ceramic studio, printmaking studio, digital media lab, darkroom and several mixed media studios. In spring 2022, the art center launched open arts, a core curriculum of contribute-what-you-can courses. Open arts includes all professional development courses and two-thirds of other courses with offerings for every age, skill level, and media - the first art school in the country to run on this model.pathways k-8: partnering with a core group of schools on chicago's south side, the art center delivers visual-arts education to nearly 1,000 elementary students in 39 classrooms. Pathways teaching artists collaborate with classroom teachers to develop curricula that enable students in schools with limited resources to grow and express themselves creatively. Pathways residencies are structured as a 30-week model that is customized for schools' calendars, plans, and needs. Teaching artists work with classroom teachers to align pathways arts instruction with existing classroom lesson plans, cps guidelines, and state standards for visual-art learning. This commitment to south side neighborhoods aims to transform arts education for students from historically underserved communities and change the future of chicago's arts landscape.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 70.6%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.7%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.93; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.1% of revenue deployed · 70.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 31 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 9 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.