Langston

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812515412
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063237067
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Reported finances

Revenue
$766,888
Expenses
$857,890
Assets
$1,886,124
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ebony Arunga (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ebony Arunga (Executive Director): $110,833 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

LANGSTON is a community-conceived and designed non-profit arts organization with a mission to strengthen and advance our community through Black arts and culture. Our vision is Cultivating Black Brilliance. We are led by our foundational values: sharing culture, promoting artistic expression, encouraging artistic excellence, facilitating cultural education and possibility, cultivating leaders, practicing radical inclusivity, and thriving as a self-determined community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Seattle Black Film Festival: The 22nd Seattle Black Film Festival (SBFF) celebrated its biggest year yet, spotlighting Black filmmakers from around the world and more local voices than ever before. We leaned into warmth, joy, and community, and this year's festival truly embodied that spirit. We welcomed home several of the festival's original founders and proudly showcased the beginning of our film festival's 22-year archive. SBFF remains one of our cornerstone programs celebrating Black brilliance on the big screen. Seattle Black Nerd Festival: In 2025 we launched the first-ever Seattle Black Nerd Festival, creating a joyful home for cosplay, comics, gaming, tech, and unapologetic Black nerd culture. The happiness in the building was palpable. Black nerds of all kinds showed up, clearly ready for a space to connect across genres, interests, and generations. The result was deeply empowering. We saw our community grow in love, joy, and belonging, and welcomed countless new faces who now see LANGSTON as a place where their passions and culture are celebrated. Create & Thrive: In 2025 we launched our second round of Create & Thrive, we supported more than 70 Black-owned businesses and artists across Washington state with over $400,000 in funding. This included a dynamic cohort of 26 Young Entrepreneurs, young Black creatives developing business ideas rooted in culture, expression, and legacy. This work reflects our ongoing commitment to investing in all generations of Black brilliance.

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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.8%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 74.1%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd 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: 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.9%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.2; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -25.6% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -27.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.8% of revenue deployed · 74.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $635K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.