Mudlark Theater Company NFP

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364573236
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Evanston, IL, USA
Phone
8474480708
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$857,305
Expenses
$883,778
Assets
$297,342
Liabilities
$507,307

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Allen Rein (President)
  • Judy Kemp (Vice President)
  • Amanda Dunn Kelly (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ian Frank (Executive Dir.): $65,330 total reported compensation
  • Christina Lepri Stringer (Artistic Dir.): $60,417 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide youth arts education organization where children are taken seriously as artists and learn theater by making it.

What it reported doing in 2025

Activities include a full season of 10-15 productions per year, featuring a mix of large mainstage shows, as well as more scaled-down lab shows designed to incubate emerging talent and experiment artistically. In addition to public production, TheOrganization also offers on-site after-school drama classes at elementary schools inEvanston, Skokie, and Chicago, plus various camps, classes, and workshops throughout the year. The age range of children The Organization works with across all programming is 5 to 18.

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

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.3%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.31 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 23rd 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.1%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.71; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.3% of revenue deployed · 67% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $592K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.