Pennsylvania College of Art & Design

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
232215278
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Lancaster, PA, USA
Phone
7173967833
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Higher Education Institutions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$17,609,272
Expenses
$17,093,205
Assets
$19,240,928
Liabilities
$8,079,867

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHAEL MOLLA (PRESIDENT - UNTIL DEC 2024)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL MOLLA (PRESIDENT - UNTIL DEC 2024): $229,706 total reported compensation
  • CARISSA MASSEY (PROVOST): $168,464 total reported compensation
  • DAN HELWIG (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $133,364 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Pennsylvania college of art & design is a professional art college offering a bfa degree, certificates, credentials, and curricula that enable students of all ages to pursue art as their life's work.

What it reported doing in 2024

Pennsylvania college of art and design (pca&d) is one of the region's leading cultural centers. Pca&d offers signature events, artist talks, classes, workshops, and gallery events throughout the year that are unique within and closely link us to the lancaster community. Pca&d students are an integral part of the fabric of our community. The mosaic project provides scholarships for under-served middle school and high school students from two lancaster city/county districts so they may spend a day with professional artists who are successful in their fields. These students also see, first hand, that careers in art and design are truly within their reach. Through the 24-hour designathon, pca&d has partnered with over two dozen non-profits throughout lancaster county. This program provides real-world experience for graphic design students by matching them with non-profits in need of professional-quality design work. The pca&d campus extends to the art garden, located directly across prince street from the college's main entrance. The art garden is a pocket of green space that the entire community enjoys. It is often a meeting place on first fridays, and it provides another welcome spot for the public to enjoy a brown bag lunch. Our enhancement of the art garden includes create influence," a sculptural installation created by nationally-acclaimed designers gail anderson and joe newton. Exhibits in pca&d's main gallery, curated by our gallery director, bring works by nationally and internationally recognized artists to lancaster. Pca&d's "senior show & celebration" is lancaster city's largest one-day gallery event by a single organization. The celebration showcases senior thesis projects by each year's graduating class and features artwork that fills five floors. In only three hours, two thousand art lovers experience professional-level work created by our bfa majors. It's free and open to the public to enjoy live music, refreshments, family and friends. The senior show & celebration truly is the gallery event of the year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 86% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 75% for direct work, and 25% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.5%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 75.9%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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 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: 2.9%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.5% of revenue deployed · 75.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $13M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $230K · 18 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.