Potions & Pixels Nonprofit

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850509370
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Charlotte, NC, USA
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Job Training

Reported finances

Revenue
$83,739
Expenses
$133,000
Assets
$29,167
Liabilities
$1,986

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Benson Taylor (President)
  • Cameron Smith (Vice-President)
  • Michael Zytkow (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Benson Taylor (President)
  • Cameron Smith (Vice-President)
  • Vinal Lakhani (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

POTIONS & PIXELS is a nonprofit organization that creates and utilizes games art and technology for community impact.

What it reported doing in 2025

Growing the Game Industry - In 2025 we expanded our efforts to grow the local game industry through a wider series of contests grants and community events supporting creators at all levels. We continued our Tournament Organizer Interactive Art and Content Creation Grant programs providing financial support and visibility across creative disciplines. We introduced a new video game music contest and hosted new rounds of our video game and board game development contests including crossover challenges that encouraged creators to adapt games across mediums. Our ongoing Game Industry Gatherings and Playtest events offered regular opportunities for developers students and professionals to connect exchange ideas and refine their work. These combined efforts strengthened the local game industry ecosystem and helped cultivate a more vibrant supportive and interconnected creative community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 78.7%; rating input score 79

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -58.8%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 43%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -25.8% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -15.3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $105K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.