Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 364021553
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7737779884
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,960,035
- Expenses
- $1,972,386
- Assets
- $833,802
- Liabilities
- $438,645
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jeannie Lukow (Former Executive Director CEO)
- Jenna Deja (Interim Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Michael Weber (Artistic Director COO): $90,920 total reported compensation
- Jeannie Lukow (Former Executive Director CEO): $84,866 total reported compensation
- Jenna Deja (Interim Executive Director): $32,860 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Porchlight, Chicagos home for music theatre, illuminates the past, present and future of this American art form through live performance, youth education and outreach programs that positively impact and connect us to the community.
What it reported doing in 2024
Productions: Porchlight Music Theatre is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the citys Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicagos most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate, diverse and powerful theatrical lens of the Chicago Style. The companys many accolades include a total of 190 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations resulting in 53 Jeff Awards (including five consecutive Best Production awards for the years 2013-2017), 43 Black Theatre Alliance nominations and 15 awards, and 28 After Dark Awards. Porchlights 30-year production history includes more than 76 mainstage works with 16 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.
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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 56
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 61.6%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 61.1%; rating input score 61
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -0.6%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 61.6% of revenue deployed · 61.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $91K · 18 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.