Puget Soundworks

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831286693
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2062499972
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$233,266
Expenses
$155,503
Assets
$149,544
Liabilities
$3,351

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Katherine Huisentruit (Executive Director)
  • Jina Jansson (Vice President)
  • Christina Wilson (President)
  • Carol Logan (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Katherine Huisentruit (Executive Director): $30,500 total reported compensation
  • Miriam Anderson (Artistic Director): $27,418 total reported compensation
  • Jina Jansson (Vice President): $1,150 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Puget Soundworks is an all-gender, LGBTQIA+ centered community chorus serving the Puget Sound region. We are here to make the world a kinder, more inclusive place, one song at a time.

What it reported doing in 2024

Mainstage Choral Productions: In fiscal year 2024-2025, Puget Soundworks presented 2 mainstage choral productions: Happy Dolly Days and The Beat Goes On. For Happy Dolly Days we performed four live performances, and for The Beat Goes On we performed 3 live performances. Both shows also were offered for online viewing. Combined, the two concerts featured 178 singers, involved over 100 volunteers, and reached 1,257 audience members. We were able to provide no-questions-asked dues waivers to over 30% of our singers and free or reduced community admission to 15% of our live performance audiences. Through song, dance, and dynamic production elements, Happy Dolly Days celebrated the musical legacy of LGBTQIA+ ally and icon Dolly Parton, with a special focus on LGBQTIA+ and BIPOC artists that influenced and were influenced by her career. The Beat Goes On also highlighted music by LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC artists, and explored themes of strength, resilience, legacy, and meaning-making through music. It too included production elements such as a live band, lighting, costumes, poetry, and dance. As a tribute to Dolly Parton's focus on literacy and reading, Puget Soundworks invited four community nonprofit partner organizations for Happy Dolly Days to table and speak at our shows, giving their work more visibility as well. These partnering organizations were Page Ahead, Reading Partners, the Queer Liberation Library, and Reading with Rover. Community nonprofit partners for The Beat Goes On were the Seattle Dyke Alliance, Gen Pride, and Lifelong.

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 94% 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 total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 57.1%; rating input score 57
  • Program expense ratio: 83.8%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $469.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.3%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 38%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 57.1% of revenue deployed · 83.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $130K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $30K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.