Opus 118 Harlem School of Music

Overview

Mission

STATEMENT** Opus 118 Harlem School of Music provides quality music instruction and teacher development in an environment that nurtures excellence and creativity. OUR VALUES AND COMMITMENTS Excellence in teaching, student activities, and everything we do. Then, in 1991, disaster hit. There were budget cuts for New York City public schools, and the violin program was axed. But Roberta wasn’t giving up. Working with parents, other teachers and volunteers, she founded Opus 118 Harlem School of Music. Violinist Arnold Steinhardt, impressed by Roberta’s music classes, engaged colleagues Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern to organize Fiddlefest, a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall to keep the violin program alive. Arnold’s wife, Dorothea von Haeften, began working tirelessly to help save the program. Not only did this first concert shine a bright light on Opus 118, it became the first in a...

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 83% 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 - A large share of total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

• Financial Efficiency: 62
• Transparency & Controls: 59
• Accountability: 94
• Sustainability: 44
• Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
• Where the money goes: 59.3% of revenue deployed · 68.9% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
• Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $261K in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
• Consistency: 22 of 24 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
• Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
• Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
• High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
• High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
• High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
• Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
• High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
• Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
• Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
• Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
• High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.