Live Arts Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 541527799
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Phone
- 4349774177
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,014,421
- Expenses
- $1,094,432
- Assets
- $1,041,358
- Liabilities
- $124,135
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MILLER SUSEN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- LISA CAPRARO (EXECUTIVE DI): $71,625 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To forge theater and community since 1990.
What it reported doing in 2024
As the anchor tenant in a four-story performance space in the heart of downtown charlottesville, live arts is a hub for creativity, theater education, and community connection. Each year, we present a compelling season of plays and musicals. We welcome students of all ages to our year- round classes and workshops, offer teen playwriting programs, and run youth summer camps that introduce young artists to all aspects of the theater. We support the development of local works and provide resources for volunteer-led groups including a playwriting lab, script reading group, and costume and scenic guilds. And for more than two decades, we have provided tech support to high school and college theater companies performing in scotland at the edinburgh festival fringe. Powered by more than 1,000 volunteers, we are a national model for engaged community theater. For more than three decades, we've dedicated ourselves to the mission of "forging theater and community" in charlottesville, Virginia. Our engagement in local communities runs deep, and we happily attract participants and audiences from across central Virginia. We're known for exceptionally high caliber productions that reflect the remarkable talent of our volunteer actors and productions teams.
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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -7.9%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.5%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $765K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $72K · 21 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.