Merit School of Music

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363028768
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3127869428
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Schools

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,849,358
Expenses
$9,778,204
Assets
$46,948,653
Liabilities
$1,346,415

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

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Charles Grode (President and Executive Director)
  • Meredith Barber (Vice President for Development & Marketing)
  • Kurtis C Gildow (Vice President for Programming)
  • Amy Johnson (Vice President for Finance & Administration)

Highest reported compensation

  • Charles Grode (President and Executive Director): $200,693 total reported compensation
  • Meredith Barber (Vice President for Development & Marketing): $138,244 total reported compensation
  • Kurtis C Gildow (Vice President for Programming): $123,475 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Merit School of Music is dedicated to helping young people transform their lives by removing barriers to high-quality music education, with the majority of students benefitting from need-based financial aid, scholarship support, or low-cost instrument rental. Merit enables motivated students, regardless of economic circumstance, to develop their talent and to use music as a springboard for achieving their full personal potential, with 100% of Merit graduates going on to college. The community music school's programming continuum consists of five major areas: Early Childhood, Instrumental & Vocal Music Program(Group classes), Private Lessons, Merit Music in Communities, and the Alice S. Pfaelzer Conservatory.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Merit Music in Communities (MMiC) program was founded in response to a request from Chicago Public Schools to create an in-school music education program. MMiC provides provides high-quality music education to students at dozens of schools throughout the city through group instruction in strings, band, choir, piano, guitar, early childhood, and general music. In addition to leading year-long courses, Merit faculty also participate in multi-week general music residencies where they collaborate with students and CPS teachers to creatively enhance reading, language, and critical thinking skills through music.

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 89% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 56
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 82
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 4th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 29.4%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.8; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64% of revenue deployed · 80.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $7.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $201K · 32 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 47 of 49 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.