Roots of Music Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 261160255
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New Orleans, LA, USA
- Phone
- 5044602611
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,727,286
- Expenses
- $1,468,353
- Assets
- $1,084,033
- Liabilities
- $50,434
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Derrick Tabb (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Derrick Tabb (Executive Director): $130,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Roots of Musics mission is to teach, support, and empower New Orleans youth through music education, academic support, and mentorship while preserving and promoting New Orleans unique musical and cultural heritage.
What it reported doing in 2024
The program provides music education and ensemble performance in a year round After School and Saturday program 5 days per week. Participation in the Roots of Music program is free. Program hours are Monday through Thursday 4PM to 7PM and Saturday from 10PM-2PM. Students arrive at the program and go directly to academic enrichment activities for the first half of the program. The children then break up into their musical sections working hands on with their music instructor. The organization provides the students with a free meal daily. Free buses are provided by the program to collect students from their schools and bring them home afterwards. The program serves over 100 middle school students from over 40 schools across Orleans parish. Further, the program comprises a full traditional New Orleans marching band (See Schedule O) that has paraded the city since 2009. The program operates for on average 200 days per calendar year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 89% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 51
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 52.4%; rating input score 52
- Program expense ratio: 61.6%; rating input score 62
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 3rd 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.9%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18.8% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 52.4% of revenue deployed · 61.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $905K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 14 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $158K reported
- Consistency: 33 of 35 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.