Project Music Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812610342
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Stamford, CT, USA
Phone
2035391733
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Student Services, Organizations of Students

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$480,088
Expenses
$383,069
Assets
$197,913
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

People named in this filing

  • JOYCE DICAMILLO (BOARD CHAIR)
  • PETER COMPO (VICE CHAIR)
  • ADAM ADELKOPF (TREASURER)

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

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

Overview

Mission

Project music advances the critical life skills of stamford youth through free music education, free instruments, mentoring and performance opportunities. The program is provided at no cost to students most in need of access, inspiration and opportunity. Project music is an after-school music program designed to create social change and nurture promising futures for youth in stamford, ct city neighborhoods, where 90%+ of student participants are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in school. Inspired by the el sistema movement, project music serves students four afternoons each week, providing an intensive after-school musical environment for them as well as deep relationships with their musical ensemble and teachers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Project music has maintained a steady annual growth at our king site, offering over 10,000 hours of instruction. We are in the process of finalizing a partnership with the boys and girls club of stamford which will allow us to address our growing waitlist and provide services to 50+ more students. Our students continue to perform in our program and in the stamford community, raising awareness for our program and receiving valuable public-facing performance opportunities. Our organization partnered with the mayor's youth employment program and welcomed a summer intern in addition to our internal learn & earn program.as a part of our whole-child model, we've maintained our provision of transportation to our king site, continued to offer meal-replacement snacks, and offered academic tutoring. Our advanced students had the opportunity to attend intensive music camps across New York, Connecticut, main, costa rica, baltimore, and more! We've expanded our community partnerships, now totaling over 30 that enable our work and help us serve the community. Students enrolled in our program hail from 26 different schools across fairfield county.

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 99% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.9%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 19th 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 20.2%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.9% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $321K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.