Innovation Studio Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455191933
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022
Location
Roxbury, MA, USA
Phone
8572541857
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,723,186
Expenses
$2,252,650
Assets
$487,657
Liabilities
$714,700

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIEL VIDANA (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL VIDANA (PRESIDENT): $158,094 total reported compensation
  • ASHLEY MEDIROS (VP STRATEGY): $132,304 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission at innovation studio is to make innovation, entrepreneurship, and business ownership attainable through an empowering and inclusive network of community spaces and individualized pathways. Innovation studio's vision is to be the home where aspiring individuals are encouraged to confidently grow their ideas into successful businesses.

What it reported doing in 2022

District hall boston & boston seaport partnerships: district hall is the result of a collaborative public (city of boston), private partnership that opened in the fall of 2013. District hall is a dedicated civic space with the goal creating an environment that fosters innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship. District hall has open workspace, classrooms, assembly space, flexible use 'pod', and writable surfaces everywhere. The organization works with municipalities, non-profit groups, college and universities, industry associations, local neighborhood groups, and companies to make informational resources available and presents educational programs and activities that encourage innovators to connect, collaborate and start a new business. These types of programs that have already been run at district hall include hackathons, pitch competitions, panel discussions, fireside chats, interviews, demonstrations, conferences, company meetings, brainstorming and community gatherings. As a result of the organization's success with district hall, other boston seaport innovation and work spaces have sought out innovation studio forming partnerships to activate their existing innovation spaces. Innovation studio formed a partnership with worcester polytechnic institute, who has innovation and meeting space in the seaport, helping to increase traffic to their location and bring awareness to their presence in the city. A partnership with echelon seaport allowed innovation studio to demonstrate how to successfully run their on-site innovation center that is available to their residents and local area businesses and individuals.

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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 9
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.4%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 68.4%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -30.7%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.47; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.4% of revenue deployed · 68.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $158K · 15 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2013 to 2022
  • 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.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.