Northern Stage Company
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043387268
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- White River Junction, VT, USA
- Phone
- 8022967000
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,674,440
- Expenses
- $6,432,921
- Assets
- $21,038,599
- Liabilities
- $7,246,055
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- CAROL DUNNE (PROD. ARTIST): $136,464 total reported compensation
- JASON SMOLLER (MANAGING DIR): $120,183 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The organization's mission is to change lives one story at a time. Its purpose is to create, produce and promote the arts by presenting professional theater in an intimate setting. The organization is also committed to community outreach and education programs and the development of young artists through performance opportunities and production experiences.
What it reported doing in 2024
Education - at the heart of northern stage's mission to change lives one story at a time, is our work with students of all ages. We value education and offer programs that nurture, delight, and challenge the generations of theater lovers. The organization offers students of all ages a year-round schedule of education programs, including workshops, classes, and summer camps. The programs are taught by working theater professionals. Additionally, the organization produces a theater intensive each summer for students ages 12-18, which includes four weeks of rehearsal and culminates in a one-two week run of a fully-staged, fuly-realized theater work. Integral to the organization's education programs is the youth ensemble studio yes), a group of young actors who develop, rehearse, and perform work at the organization.bridgeup: theater in the schools has operated since 2017. Bridgeup is an eight-week in-school theater program with a mission to increase theater access and learning resources through shakespeare in the schools and musical theatre in the schools residencies. All of these programs are under the direction of the director of education and report directly the producing artistic director.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 71% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 59% for direct work, and 41% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 80
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $20.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th 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: 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: 73.7%; rating input score 74; 12th 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.2%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.27; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 19 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $136K · 22 people listed
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 11 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.