Pen and Brushinc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 135311420
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2124753669
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $186,059
- Expenses
- $849,139
- Assets
- $6,672,781
- Liabilities
- $516,180
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NETTE FORNE THOMAS (PRESIDENT)
- RASHIDAH ISMAILI (VICE PRESIDENT)
- DAWN DELIKAT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- DAWN DELIKAT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $112,959 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 and brush provides a platform to showcase the work of excellent female artists and writers to a broader audience with the ultimate goal of effecting real change within the marketplace. We encourage and mentor emerging professionals and aim to expose the stereotypes and misconceptions that perpetuate gender-based exclusion, lack of recognition and the devaluation of skill that is still experienced by women in the arts and literature.
What it reported doing in 2024
Pen and brush utilizes its complete arsenal of resources to further the careers of women, women identifying, and non-binary artists and writers. We take an artist-first approach, centering all strategy, development, and programing around individual artists/writers. Pen and brush mentors, supports, advises, exhibits, publishes, and promotes voices who are creating impactful work that is so engrained in a larger cultural dialogue that to deny it recognition is to perpetuate a corrupt and incomplete canon of the history of art and literature. In this way, the organization exposes and fosters the work of artists and writers to the general public and a wide variety of influencers including scholars, collectors, curators, gallerists, agents, press, institutions and publishers to establish and sustain career growth, equitable outcomes, and filter their work into the field so that culture can begin to accurately reflect our world.
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.
- 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 67.4%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -356.4%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.86; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.3%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -5.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $572K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.