Rattlestick Productions Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
113105457
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2126272556
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,062,240
Expenses
$1,858,208
Assets
$4,596,994
Liabilities
$823,155

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARI FOSTER (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • WILL DAVIS (ARTISTIC DIR.): $103,549 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Rattlestick Theaters mission is to produce ambitious plays to inspire empathy and provoke conversation that will lead to positive social change.

What it reported doing in 2024

From our historic West Village theater since 1992, Rattlestick has produced the first plays and early works of some of todays leading voices, including Annie Baker (The Aliens, Obie for Best New American Play), Bailey Williams and Emma Horwitz (Two Sisters Find A Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods), and Diana Oh (mylingerieplay). We are proud to make Rattlestick a place where some of our nations most celebrated playwrights feel safe to test their new ideas, including Dael Orlandersmith (Until the Flood), Ethan Lipton (We Are Your Robots), and Samuel D. Hunter (Lewiston/Clarkson, nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play and the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play).Rattlesticks annual activities are guided by three main programming anchors that re-imagine how we make new work and focus on the unique process each artist needs: PRODUCTIONS, a lineup of new theatrically expansive Off-Broadway plays by innovative theatermakers that are deepened by incubator workshops which adhere to bespoke development timelines shaped by the project as it grows; FELLOWSHIPS, four distinct programs dedicated to serving emerging playwrights and directors along with a new Director-in-Residence initiative launched in FY26; and WORKING ARTIST INITIATIVES which include the new Waverly Performance Studio, a program designed to give our audiences access to artists in process, the Global Forms Theater Festival, a platform for international and immigrant theater artists to share in-progress work, and Rattle On Artist Salons, artist-forward cultivation engagements organized around sharing the behind-the-scenes development process with our community. These programs together serve approximately 10,000 audience members and 500 artists annually.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% 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

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.3%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 68.8%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 7 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.9%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.47; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.3% of revenue deployed · 68.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $104K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.