Pearl Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
874101298
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Phone
2603451979
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,583,103
Expenses
$2,325,721
Assets
$26,338,823
Liabilities
$311,801

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • James W Palermo retired (Executive Dir.): $115,849 total reported compensation
  • Angie Fincannon (Executive Dir.): $102,213 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Pearl Arts, Inc. exists to serve Northeast Indiana as an interactive community arts, education, entrepreneurial, and engagement destination.

What it reported doing in 2025

Innovation Institute: The Innovation Institute at Pearl Arts is a unique program where students learn how music, technology, and creative problem-solving connect. Launched as a pilot with Fort Wayne Community Schools and Amp Lab in spring 2025, the program quickly demonstrated strong demand and reached full capacity. In addition, students selected for the program may earn dual credit through two university partners: Indiana Institute of Technology (for entrepreneurship) and St. Francis University (for music technology). Employers across the region, including live event venues, production companies, worship centers, schools, and media organizations, consistently report shortages of trained technicians in areas such as live sound, recording, and digital production. These roles are essential to the regions expanding arts and entertainment economy and offer strong career pathways.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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.
  • 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: 10%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.33; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 99.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 54.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.3% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $116K · 7 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $896K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.