Refugee Choir Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 822515143
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
- Location
- Tacoma, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2537778478
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Singing, Choral
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $168,888
- Expenses
- $233,228
- Assets
- $39,496
- Liabilities
- $102
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- John W Lotts (Executive Director)
- Orlando Morales (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Orlando Morales (Executive Director): $62,410 total reported compensation
- John W Lotts (Executive Director): $52,395 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Creating spaces for authentic expression, interconnection, and healing through song and music
What it reported doing in 2025
Creating space for authentic expression: The Tacoma Refugee Choir (TRC) fosters authentic expression through 37 weekly choir rehearsals held in 2025, creating space for honest conversations where people bring their unique gifts and perspectives. Members learn that their voice and stories matter, messages they otherwise hear too seldom. In this supportive environment, members regularly led warm-ups, conducted songs at concerts, and proposed repertoire--for example, members Gail and Katia brought Common Ground and Life to the Choir, which were performed at the June 1 Commond Threads concert. Katia also taught the Choir an entire song in Belarusian, sharing content about the difficult political situation in her country that deepened everyones understanding. The band Naviband was so moved to learn their song had been performed that they posted about it on their Instagram page. This cultivation of authentic expression has transformed members confidence both within and beyond the Choir, with members crediting TRC participation as instrumental in taking first steps in community leadership--including one younger member being offered a public speaking role at the Seattle-based Rhapsody Project after presenting at the national Chorus America conference.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% 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 - 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: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 12
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.1%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 61.6%; rating input score 62
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th 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: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -38.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 49.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.1% of revenue deployed · 61.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $144K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $62K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.