Life on Art

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873805682
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Petaluma, CA, USA
Phone
7077805440
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,471,957
Expenses
$874,246
Assets
$1,564,023
Liabilities
$257,267

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TRACY FERRON (CHAIR (THRU 7/2025) / CEO (START 7/2025))
  • KRISTIN NELSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THRU 7/2025))

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTIN NELSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THRU 7/2025)): $134,195 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Life on art unites people from diverse communities to co-create handmade large scale interactive art as a platform for social action and healing.

What it reported doing in 2025

Loa's 2025 accomplishments include: (i) expanded our heart stories program with additional art-and-story workshops serving trauma impacted people in men's and women's California state correctional facilities; (ii) deepened community engagement through public artmaking events and watch parties that highlighted the unbound sculpture and documentary and other arts in healing films for local audiences; (iii) continued to share visions of hope: art of the incarcerated through in person and digital platforms to uplift the stories of incarcerated artists; (iv) growing our network of volunteers and nonprofit partners who co-create large scale interactive artworks as a platform for social action and healing; (v) produced a large-scale installation, the art of rehabilitation, of incarcerated heart stories at the monterey county government building in salinas, ca seen by over 5,000 people; and (v) advanced organizational capacity by recruiting new program staff to support the delivery of heart stories and other creative arts based mental wellbeing programs statewide.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 86% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 46.7%; rating input score 47
  • Program expense ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $72.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st 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: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: 40.6%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.79; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.3% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 46.7% of revenue deployed · 79.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $695K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $134K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.