La Plaza De Cultura Y Artes
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 753059288
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 2135426200
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,578,904
- Expenses
- $6,664,423
- Assets
- $27,993,497
- Liabilities
- $1,704,578
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LETICIA RHI BUCKLEY (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- LETICIA RHI BUCKLEY (CEO): $215,633 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
La plaza de cultura y artes centers the history of mexican and mexican americans in los angeles, and celebrates the stories, accomplishments and experiences of latinx people and latino culture through transformative exhibitions, music, dance, culinary arts, and multigenerational storytelling and artmaking.
What it reported doing in 2024
La plaza is the only museum and cultural center in southern California dedicated to presenting an on-going schedule of exhibitions focusing on us latino history, art and culture. The museum's permanent exhibits include: la starts here!, an exploration of l.a.'s multicultural history, and calle principal, a re-creation of l.a.'s main street in the 1920s. Temporary exhibits developed by the museum's curatorial staff cover topics such as the los angeles history of baseball, murals and mariachi music; the 50th anniversary of the east los angeles walkouts; the founding of boyle heights as a multicultural community; and latino art shows by artists such as gilbert "magu" lujan, ernesto yerena, rafael cardenas, linda vallejo, latinx lgbtq artists, and the mujeres del maiz collective.
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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 62
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 70.5%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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: 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: Fail
- 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: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -19.5%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.2; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.2%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 70.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.4M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.