Music Mountain Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237219961
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2009
- Location
- Lakeville, CT, USA
- Phone
- 8608247126
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $950,186
- Expenses
- $725,738
- Assets
- $850,503
- Liabilities
- $55,646
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Oskar Espina-Ruiz (Artistic & Executive Director)
- Barbara v Bechtolsheim (President)
- Peter Takiff (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Oskar Espina-Ruiz (Artistic & Executive Director): $61,000 total reported compensation
- Bethany Franklin (Operations Manager): $47,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote the performance of chamber music, particularly the string quartet and related literature to promote musical education in the field of string and other orchestral instruments to promote and support the education and development of students pursuing careers in the field of chamber and other classical music and to promote the general publics interest in chamber music by means of concerts, lectures, teaching and other means.
What it reported doing in 2024
Concert Festival: Chamber Series, Jazz and More Series, and Winter Series
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 60
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 80.4%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: 23.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.9%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 62% of revenue deployed · 80.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $584K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $61K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.