Passager
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 831361547
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2020–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4107641587
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Printing, Publishing
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $96,607
- Expenses
- $93,800
- Assets
- $138,416
- Liabilities
- $751
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Chris Warman (President)
People named in this filing
- Kathleen Shemer (Board Member)
- Mary Azrael (Board Member)
- Sarah Merrow (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Independent literary press dedicated to publishing fiction, poetry and memoirs written by older writers.
What it reported doing in 2024
Published: 67 writers and artists in 2 journal issues; 44 podcast episodes to 5,525 listeners. Awarded: 1 poetry prize (Passager Poetry Contest Winner Angie Minkin). Circulated: 1,700 physical and digital journal copies and 250 books. Sponsored, co-sponsored and participated in: 3 readings and events showcasing 36 writers and artists (2 virtual to 525 total viewers and 1 live to an audience of 25) and 3 workshops (38 total participants).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.4%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 71.2%; rating input score 71
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.9%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.48; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.4% of revenue deployed · 71.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $67K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.