Playground

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943336399
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2009
Location
Berkeley, CA, USA
Phone
4159926677
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$764,710
Expenses
$752,199
Assets
$1,153,550
Liabilities
$328,448

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • James A Kleinmann (President)
  • Christian Wilburn (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • James A Kleinmann (President): $110,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

More than just another play development program, playground focuses on the creation of a true theatre community by nurturing the collaborative process between first-time or early development playwrights, and established, professional actors and directors

What it reported doing in 2024

Monday night playgroundproduce staged readings of 72 original short works from more than 300 submissions for an online audience of 2000+ with participation of more than 360+ theatre artists (12 performances).playground festival of new worksproduce a three-week online new works festival celebrating the best new short and full-length plays, including best of playground, an annual showcase featuring a fully-produced evening-length program of the best 6-7 short works from the monday night series, staged readings of new full-length plays commissioned and/or developed by playground, and premieres of two full-length plays developed in past festivals, for an audience of 1,200+ with participation of nearly 100 theatre artists (12 performances).

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.

The verdict

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.9%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.6%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.53; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.9% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $537K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $110K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.