Memphis Equity Through Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814079426
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Memphis, TN, USA
Phone
9014104100
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$970,958
Expenses
$3,040,347
Assets
$1,542,974
Liabilities
$619,221

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AMBER HAMILTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • LAURA LINDENMAYER (VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS)
  • RYCHETTA WATKINS (VICE PRESIDENT, GRANTMAKING & CAPACITY BUILDING)

Highest reported compensation

  • AMBER HAMILTON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $241,744 total reported compensation
  • LAURA LINDENMAYER (VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS): $143,470 total reported compensation
  • RYCHETTA WATKINS (VICE PRESIDENT, GRANTMAKING & CAPACITY BUILDING): $132,505 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Investing in youth development through transformative music engagement and creating equitable opportunities for black and brown youth in memphis

What it reported doing in 2024

Invests in youth through transformative music engagement, creating equitable opportunities for black and brown youth in memphis. We invest in two ways: through direct programs that connect youth to high quality in school, after school and summertime opportunities and by providing funding and resources to advance organizations working with young people. Our orginal direct program is our in school music engagement, which helps transform music classrooms into learning laboratories for personal development, growing student confidence, and self efficacy. Mmi works creates paid summer opportunities for youth to work at music and arts organizations and offers equitable access to career training and professional/personal development. We also invest to build strong and effective organizations through operational grant funding and support that foster sustainability and improve program quality.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 90.8%; rating input score 91; 39th 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -213.1%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.51; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -11.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 68.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $242K · 11 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 22 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 19 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.