Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 362270698
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3126424400
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,657,894
- Expenses
- $804,102
- Assets
- $5,229,120
- Liabilities
- $123,748
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Stuart Fullerton (President)
- Lenin Delsol (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- WILLIAM EWERS (Executive Dir.): $77,000 total reported compensation
- Stuart Fullerton (President): $16,192 total reported compensation
- Errol Jacobson (Director): $16,080 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 mission of the palette & chisel academy of fine arts is to foster growth in the visual arts, provide a place for serious artists to work, and enrich the community with programs of practical art education, art appreciation and exhibitions.
What it reported doing in 2024
To provide art instruction and studio space through classroom instruction, workshops and exhibitions.
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 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 57
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 79
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 51%; rating input score 51
- Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th 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: Limited
- 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 51.5%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.5; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.7%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 51% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $562K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $77K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 51/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.