Lukaba Productions

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030455744
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Theater

Reported finances

Revenue
$402,338
Expenses
$625,781
Assets
$1,162,866
Liabilities
$988,110

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JILL M VALENTINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JILL M VALENTINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $75,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We are art makers who provide a home that fosters great performers and inspired audiences.

What it reported doing in 2024

Chicagos hottest new immersive walk thru experience. Whim is a world where all art forms come together paintings music sculpture street art and live performance. The mantra of this endeavor is putting chicago artists back to work post covid. Lukaba infuses money back into the building to keep creating pushing perspectives to our audience and hiring chicagos best talent.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 86% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -55.5%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.86; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8.4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -10.3% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $494K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 9/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.