Leonardo's Basement

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411911604
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6128244394
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$403,541
Expenses
$433,397
Assets
$203,625
Liabilities
$76,318

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEVE JEVNING (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • TRACY NIELSEN (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRACY NIELSEN (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $68,750 total reported compensation
  • STEVE JEVNING (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $61,250 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Leonardo's basement is a one-of-a-kind creative learning environment for "kids" of all ages to design and build from their imagination. Our values include: learning through doing; encouraging process over product, including the importance of risk taking; respect for all individuals and their potential to enrich the community; recognition that children and adults learn from each other; belief in the continuous development of our organization; and knowledge that everyone can be curious and creative. Our vision is to transform people toreinvent the world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Leonardo's basement provides one-of-a-kind workshop-based learning experiences for children, teens and adults to design and build engineering, art, and technology projects. In 2024 a total of 1,567 children, 116 teens, and 54 adults attended classes and workshops. Leonardo's basement partnered with 9 schools to provide field trip visits, school residencies, and family events reaching a total of 1,934 participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 74% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

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

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 89.1%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.4%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.7% of revenue deployed · 89.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $386K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.