Northern Academy of the Arts
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 824017884
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Middletown, NY, USA
- Phone
- 8457790808
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Secondary, High School
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,112,227
- Expenses
- $7,082,326
- Assets
- $6,833,946
- Liabilities
- $2,259,391
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
People named in this filing
- JOSEPH ZHAO (Chairman)
- HUAPING GUO (Trustee)
- YUNG-CHIA CHEN (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Northern Academy of the Arts is a New York not-for-profit organization with the mission to nurture students from grades 1 to 12 to become well-educated individuals of exemplary moral character. To this end, Northern Academy of the Arts provides a rigorous college preparatory and classical arts education steeped in Western and Eastern traditions. Revenue is derived principally from tuition fees and other program income, as well as contributions made by individuals and others.
What it reported doing in 2024
Northern Academy of the Arts offers secondary education for grades 1-12 students, nurturing in them academic and artistic excellence, and strength of character. Northern Academy provides students with the skills, discipline, and confidence they need to be successful in life. Northern Academys rigorous education imbues a philosophy of lifelong learning. While every student fulfills a complete college preparatory curriculum, the Academys Dance, Music and Fine Arts departments provide a unique emphasis on the classical arts of both Western and Eastern civilizations. In addition to the regular academic year, Northern Academy also offers summer camps during the summer break. The camp includes award-winning STEM, arts, adventures and language core programs, regular field trips, and a grand finale with performances and party for all campers, families, and friends.All of Northern Academys education programs are grounded in classical perspective and crowned by an emphasis on real-world application. Our low teacher to student ratio allows for individualized education that is flexible and responsive and has resulted in students achieving above average SAT scores. The Academy offers a wide range of elective courses for high school students including Advanced Placement (AP) courses. In addition to the academic and artistic education students receive, Northern Academys approach to character development aims to guide students to become healthy, upright people who know right from wrong, and who want to make good choices based on strong reasoning founded in respect for their own lives and the lives of others.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.2%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 87.3%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.4%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 29.6% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 22.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.2% of revenue deployed · 87.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $736K reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.