Pen American Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133447888
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2123341660
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Humanities Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,931,942
Expenses
$25,197,771
Assets
$45,658,360
Liabilities
$9,138,496

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

51 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN (PRESIDENT)
  • TRACY HIGGINS (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MARIE ARANA (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DINAW MENGESTU (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MARVIN PUTNAM (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SUZANNE NOSSEL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • SUZANNE NOSSEL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $462,917 total reported compensation
  • OLAKUNLE APAMPA (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $358,030 total reported compensation
  • CLARISSE ROSAZ SHARIYF (CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER, LIT PROG): $289,274 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Pen american center, inc. Is an association of writers and others in the literary community working to defend free expression, advance literature, and foster international literary fellowship.

What it reported doing in 2024

Pen world voices festival: pen world voices is america's premier international literary festival, attracting the best-known writers from across the globe. Since its founding, the festival has presented more than 1,800 writers and artists from 118 countries speaking 56 languages in venues across New York city and los angeles in a four day series of literary events with a human rights focus. The festival was founded by salman rushdie, esther allen and michael roberts in the aftermath of september 11th, 2001, with the aim of broadening channels of dialogue between the united states and the world- a mission that, today, has never been more relevant. (continued on schedule o)the 20th anniversary of the united states leading international literary festival was cancelled two weeks before the festival's scheduled start date. Some festival programs did occur without being named under the festival umbrella. Given the timing of the cancellation significant non-refundable costs were incurred including travel booked and venue rentals.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 67.5%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 33rd 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -58.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.81; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.4%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 41 of 41 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $17M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $463K · 51 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $664K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.