New York Studio School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 136167281
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2126736466
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,915,960
- Expenses
- $4,161,422
- Assets
- $7,808,178
- Liabilities
- $3,052,644
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- GRAHAM NICKSON (DEAN): $202,986 total reported compensation
- KAITLIN MCDONOUGH (ACTING HEAD OF SCHOOL): $188,958 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
See schedule o.
What it reported doing in 2024
Art education: dedicated to conveying a deeper understanding of the language of art and to providing artists with the tools to follow any artistic path they choose, the school offers a master of fine arts program, a certificate program, evening & weekend classes, and its signature marathons. These programs typically require intensive work in the studio and feature small, close-knit cohorts, extensive contact and critiques with artist-faculty, exhibition opportunities, and engagement with contemporary art discourses and the historical sweep of millenia of creative mark-making. The school typically enrolls approximately 60 f/t students and 300+ p/t students and offers around 80-90 courses each year.
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 82% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 58
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62.7%; rating input score 63
- Program expense ratio: 72.5%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: Fail
- 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: 15.3%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.88; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 62.7% of revenue deployed · 72.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $203K · 22 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $169K reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.