Refresh Collective

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473138601
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Cleveland, OH, USA
Phone
2162699208
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$888,780
Expenses
$721,770
Assets
$319,953
Liabilities
$124,912

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • David Harrill (Executive Director)
  • Mike Gustafon (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lee Harrill (Chief Operating Officer): $54,230 total reported compensation
  • David Harrill (Executive Director): $40,480 total reported compensation
  • Robert Daugherty (Secretary): $5,610 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Refresh Collective is a 501(c )3 organization whose mission is to cultivate tomorrow's change-makers through self-expression and skill building rooted in hip-hop culture.

What it reported doing in 2024

Music: Our music programs provide a transformative program for youth and adults, empowering them to translate individual struggles into pathways for success through the creation and recording of original hip-hop songs. Delivered in diverse settings such as schools, summer camps, after-school programs, hospitals, and recovery support centers, these programs provide a comprehensive learning journey through all phases of digital music production, including songwriting, recording arts, and performance. This process simultaneously cultivates essential social-emotional literacy, language arts proficiency, digital literacy, and valuable transferable employment skills.

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 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.4%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • 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: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.8%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.9%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.5% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 23.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.4% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $604K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $54K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.