Public Poetry
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 461203372
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7133768502
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Humanities Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $67,579
- Expenses
- $60,951
- Assets
- $9,204
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Detrick Hughes (President)
People named in this filing
- Detrick Hughes (President)
- Lucy Lunt (Treasurer)
- Arjumand Mubaraack (Membership Chairman and Board Member)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mission Statement - Public Poetry showcases the enduring power of poetry, conveys poetry's range, relevance and reach throughout the year. We uphold diverse voices, layer multiple genres, encourage collaborative possibilities, and provide new opportunities for poets. We pay poets for their work and initiate collaborative partnerships that enrich the cultural community, delivering poetry to audiences in Houston and beyond.
What it reported doing in 2024
Library Reading Series - monthly virtual and in-person readings throughout 2025 in partnership with Houston Public Library featuring outstanding poets from across the USA. Includes open mic for all participants, attended by poetry fans via Zoom, recorded for viewing later. The program has been in existence for 14 years and can be found on the Houston Public Library events page. https://houstonlibrary.libcal.com/calendar/events and https://www.publicpoetry.org/readingseries/
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 76% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 48
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.5%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 93.7%; rating input score 94
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9.8%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 22.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 84.5% of revenue deployed · 93.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $57K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.