Ojai Playwrights Conference

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770547553
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2009
Location
Ojai, CA, USA
Phone
3238567605
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$483,295
Expenses
$523,606
Assets
$105,421
Liabilities
$130,000

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAURIE BERNHARD (PRESIDENT)
  • MALCOLM KUTNER (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEREMY B COHEN (PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $102,500 total reported compensation
  • TAHNEE FREDA (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $36,917 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 create a body of brilliant new plays that reflect our diverse, dynamic, and ever-changing world.

What it reported doing in 2025

Opc's conference and new works festival developed and helped advance new, un-produced plays of artistic excellence by both established and emerging playwrights and gave support to diverse voices in the american theater. Eight playwrights received focused, nurturing new play development support; 36 professional directors, dramaturgs, actors, designers, and stage managers were employed to collaborate with the playwrights; eight local high school students wrote, developed, and presented their own dramatic works under the guidance of opc staff; seven college-aged interns gained hands-on experience in professional new play development while developing their own creative process; and 900 people attended the seven public events and staged readings at the festival, experiencing these magnificent, challenging, and entertaining stories for the very first time.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% 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

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: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.9%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $93.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 64th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.3%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.23; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.9% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $430K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.