Italian Cultural & Community Center of Houston

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
760040419
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
7135244222
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cultural, Ethnic Awareness

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$874,707
Expenses
$703,821
Assets
$2,014,401
Liabilities
$40,898

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Claudia Sims (President)
  • Kip Mankenberg (Vice President)
  • Lorenzo Renda (Vice President)
  • Erika Myers (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Erika Myers (Executive Director): $79,290 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To advance, celebrate, and preserve Italian culture and heritage. We share our rich culture with everyone in our community by promoting the Italian language, history, art, music, and cuisine. We support deserving students with scholarships each year.

What it reported doing in 2025

Scholarship Program: In 2025, the Italian Cultural & Community Center awarded $32,291 in scholarships to deserving young men and women. Since 1982, the ICCC has awarded $1,000 in annual scholarships to high school seniors, both new and renewing, based on merit and financial need. In 2025, two new scholarships were awarded to high school seniors, and five scholarships were renewed. After the 2025 high school senior-based merit and financial need scholarships were granted, this portion of the scholarship program was eliminated going forward. All previously awarded scholarships under this program will continue to be honored. See Schedule O.Since the inception of the Study Abroad program in 2020, we have awarded ten scholarships to eligible undergraduate, MBA, or Ph.D. students for study abroad programs in Italy, totaling $25,000. The program began in 2020 (overseas travel was unavailable in 2020/2021 due to COVID).Thanks to a donor, since 2023, we have awarded three one-time non-renewable $5,000 scholarships to college students currently enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D. program, majoring or minoring in Italian Studies, concentrating in Italian History and/or Culture.Thanks to a donor, we were able to offer two additional scholarships in 2024/2025 totaling $30,291 to college-bound high school students.Since 1986, the organization has granted over $525,000 in scholarships.

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 95% 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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.1%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 84.9%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 19.5%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.86; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.1% of revenue deployed · 84.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $598K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $79K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.