Last Whispers Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813146840
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
2133214145
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Humanities Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$220,830
Expenses
$247,771
Assets
$66,435
Liabilities
$7,859

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

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

People named in this filing

  • LENA HERZOG (Pres/Treas/Dire)
  • MARGARET MORRIS (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Last Whispers, Inc. has been formed to bring awareness to the extinction of linguistic diversity around the world and help provide support to language archives, museums and universities in their effort to maintain the history of languages. Last Whispers, Inc. is hoping to achieve their purpose by utilizing audio and visual compilations by numerous award winning composers. These compilations will be presented in museums and language archives and universities. The hope is that the compilations will help educate and make the public aware of the enormity of disappearing languages. Last Whispers, Inc. wants the world to hear and feel the loss of knowledge and origins of 85-90% of languages once spoken in everyday life.

What it reported doing in 2025

Last Whispers is a multimedia, audio video installation, a public platform and a virtual reality (VR). The project is an ecosystem that explores the global mass extinction of languages. It premiered at the British Museum in London in 2016, and has traveled to Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, France, Brazil, Canada, and throughout the United States. Last Whispers Virtual Reality premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and garnered acclaim and prizes at over twenty major VR festivals around the world. Last Whispers 45 min immersive installation was shown at major concert halls and theaters like The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and at the opera house in Paris Le Thtre du Chtelet, and also at Le Thtre de la Ville, France. UNESCO has listed it as one of the major programming events in 2019. The New York Times, Le Monde and major media venues were part of the major worldwide discourse about language extinction. More on www.lastwhispers.org

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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 6
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -12.2%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 2 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $248K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.