Los Angeles Children's Chorus

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 954431730
IRS 990 coverage: 2009–2024
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: Pasadena, CA, USA
Phone: 6267934231
Rating: 77
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Singing, Choral

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $3,132,166
Expenses: $3,103,116
Assets: $1,072,961
Liabilities: $391,211

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

SUSAN MILLER KOTSES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

FERNANDO MALVAR-RUIZ (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $195,248 total reported compensation
SUSAN MILLER KOTSES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $155,784 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Los angeles children's chorus provides choral music education of the highest quality to young people who represent richly diverse racial, economic, and cultural brackgrounds.

What it reported doing in 2024

Los angeles children's chorus transforms lives through the power of choral music. During the 2024-2025 season (fye 7/31/25) los angeles children's chorus (lacc) served 520 children and teens through our vocal music education program, reaching 60,000 audience members throughout 40+ live performances in southern California, Arizona, ireland, northern ireland, england, and wales. Choristers received 12,000 instructional hours, and participated in approximately 230 rehearsals, 550 vocal coaching sessions, and 24 weeks of musicianship classes. With a strong focus on equitable access to music education, lacc awarded over $420,000 in financial aid to its students this season, as well additional fire aid to families impacted by the wildfires.

Operating model

Revenue model: Earned-program. 79% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model: Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 74
Transparency & Controls: 75
Accountability: 91
Sustainability: 27
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 81.9%; rating input score 82
Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 82
Fundraising efficiency: $2.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: Limited
Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

Operating margin: 0.9%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 81.9% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.6M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $195K · 20 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
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.

High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.