Portland Community Media
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 930801581
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Portland, OR, USA
- Phone
- 5032881515
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Television
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,065,469
- Expenses
- $3,243,567
- Assets
- $5,641,978
- Liabilities
- $803,181
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- COURTNEY ROMINE-MANN (DIRECTOR OF GROWTH): $90,298 total reported compensation
- JAMES BRUCE (PAST DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY): $90,141 total reported compensation
- KATHRYN GARCIA (DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY MEDIA): $89,503 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Open signal's mission is to nurture the change-making power of community media in service of a just and equitable world.
What it reported doing in 2024
Community media - the organization provides online and cable broadcast of municipal government meetings and community events. Training and production tools enable community members to create original media in their own voice. Through application-based programs and nonprofit partnerships, mediamakers of color, low-income makers, and artists with disabilities receive specialized training, creating a safe space to build technical and artistic skills, and to take risks. Open signal broadcasts independently produced media, from portland and beyond, on five local cable channels and through a growing online platform. In addition, for-hire video production and closed captioning raises funds to support community programming.
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 98% 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 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: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.5%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 64.5%; rating input score 64
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 96.9%; rating input score 97; 32nd 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; 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: NotApplicable
- 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: -5.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.74; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.5% of revenue deployed · 64.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 18 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $162K reported
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.