Penland School Of Craft

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 560623948
IRS 990 coverage: 2010–2024
Forms available: Form 990 2024
Location: Penland, NC, USA
Phone: 8287652359
Rating: 80
Verdict: STRONG
Rating confidence: Standard
Sector: Arts Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $10,699,059
Expenses: $10,797,378
Assets: $81,567,394
Liabilities: $3,545,334

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

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

Maria Hall (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

Maria Hall (Executive Director): $222,658 total reported compensation
BETH SHUPE (Director of Finance): $123,507 total reported compensation
LESLIE NOELL (Creative Director): $121,262 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

What it reported doing in 2024

Penland school of craft is an international center for craft education. Penland offers one-week to eight-week workshops in books and paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking, textiles, wood and letterpress studios. The school also sponsors artists' residencies, educational outreach programs, and a craft gallery. In a typical year, we serve approximately 1,400 students and 16,000 visitors. Studio classes: penland's adult craft education program offers professional training in books, paper, clay, drawing, painting, glass, iron, letterpress, print, metals, photography, textiles, and wood in 16 studios. In fy25, penland served 1,500 students in adult craft workshops.

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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 72
Transparency & Controls: 90
Accountability: 95
Sustainability: 54
Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 80.1%; rating input score 80
Program expense ratio: 70.6%; rating input score 71
Fundraising efficiency: $7.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
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; 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: 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: -0.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.55; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 80.1% of revenue deployed · 70.6% of spending went to programs
Governance: 32 of 32 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.6M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $223K · 36 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $687K reported
Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 4 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.

Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.