Ignite Arts & Stem Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 824537269
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Tarzana, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8188636035
- Rating
- 91
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $96,211
- Expenses
- $107,712
- Assets
- $23,446
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Crystal Jones (President)
- Pia Williams (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- James Milborne (Secretary)
- Debra Hess-Wakeland (Board Member)
- Crystal Jones (President)
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
Ignite Arts & STEM empowers underrepresented BIPOC youth in Greater Los Angeles by providing equitable access to arts education, STEM mentorship, scholarships, and professional development opportunities that remove financial and systemic barriers to academic and career success. Through our comprehensive programsincluding art mentoring and exhibitions, STEM professional development, scholarship awards, and community resource fairswe invest in the next generation of diverse leaders, innovators, and creatives. Our mission is to ignite pathways to higher education and career advancement by connecting talented youth with mentors, resources, and opportunities that cultivate their artistic and technical skills, build confidence, and foster long-term economic mobility. We serve students who face disproportionate barriers to accessing quality arts and STEM programming, ensuring that talent and potentialnot zip code or economic circumstancedetermine opportunity.
What it reported doing in 2024
Our signature Igniting Ideas: Emerging Artists Exhibition program provides 30 BIPOC youth with professional art mentorship, exhibition opportunities, and material stipends of $600-$1,200 per participant. Students receive portfolio development, exhibition preparation, and networking opportunities with arts professionals. In 2024, we provided $62,500 in donated art supplies and technology (Meta Ray-Bans, Blick gift cards).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 82.7%; rating input score 83
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: -12%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 83.7% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 55.9% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 92.6% of revenue deployed · 82.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $89K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 7 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 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 — Transparency & Controls: Part I part ii net assets crosscheck did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.