Leap of Joy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 260109852
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2016–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Phone
- 2604529904
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Dance
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $63,814
- Expenses
- $73,098
- Assets
- $2,146
- Liabilities
- $4,349
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Meridean Hammers (President)
- Beth McElhaney (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Meridean Hammers (President)
- Beth McElhaney (Vice President)
- Michele Zurovec (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Leap of Joy offers dance and theater arts after-school and summer camp enrichment programs to underprivileged children in Title 1 schools throughout Austin, TX. Our teaching artists enrich children's lives by providing mentorship, academic excellence, and fighting obesity with proper nutrition. They also emphasize the importance of physical activity by teaching dance, creative movement, and performing arts at no charge to their families. Our goal is to give children a sense of their value and a window to see the opportunities available by working hard and making wise choices. The uppermost importance is creating a positive and safe environment where kids can take a Leap of Joy with Self-Esteem.
What it reported doing in 2025
Leap of Joy offers dance and theater arts after school and summer camp enrichment programs to underprivileged children in Title 1 schools in Austin, TX. We currently service 14 AISD schools 6 of which are the lowest-performing schools in the state of Texas with children ranging in ages from 4-14. Our mission is to change these numbers by having our teachers enrich the lives of children by not only providing mentorship, academic excellence, fight obesity with proper nutrition but emphasize the importance of physical activity by teaching dance, creative movement, and performing arts at no charge to their families. Our goal is to give these children a sense of their own value and a window to see the opportunities that are available by working hard and making wise choices.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 47
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 49.7%; rating input score 50
- Program expense ratio: 43.4%; rating input score 43
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -14.5%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.03; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -13.7% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 49.7% of revenue deployed · 43.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $32K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 43/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.