Red Ladder Theatre Company

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
842394273
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Jose, CA, USA
Phone
4086577582
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$673,370
Expenses
$799,103
Assets
$2,286,142
Liabilities
$239,228

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ron Muriera (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Karen Altree Piemme (Executive Dir.): $145,835 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

As a social justice theatre company founded on the understanding that the most essential component of a healthy individual is the creative spirit, Red Ladder exists to connect our most vulnerable community members with their own creativity - igniting their imaginations and amplifying their voices - empowering them to tell their own stories.

What it reported doing in 2024

Youth Engagment ProgramsRed Ladder provides a variety of opportunities for youth in our community to engage in the creative process. This includes work with youth in the foster system, work with students in the classroom or in summer bridge programs designed to give children a leg up when making the transition to a new school environment, and work with youth in a variety of community settings. Red Ladder has become a leader in performing arts curriculum development and uses the power of the arts to reach students, especially those with non-traditional learning styles, and to help them make sense of the world around them. The company has developed a broad range of activities that meet the State of California's Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Standards and are in line with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Further, Red Ladder successfully executes curriculum based on the Studio Thinking Framework/Studio Habits of Mind with its participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 68% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.31 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -18.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.86; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.2%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92% of revenue deployed · 77% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $615K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $146K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.