Screen Actors Guild-american Federation of Television and Radio Artists Found

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953967876
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3235496708
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,326,441
Expenses
$11,723,175
Assets
$66,847,919
Liabilities
$10,749,784

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

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • COURTNEY B VANCE (PRESIDENT)
  • PAMELA REED (1ST VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SHARON LAWRENCE (2ND VICE PRESIDENT)
  • REBECCA DAMON (3RD VICE PRESIDENT)
  • CYD WILSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHARLOTTE WELLS (COO): $311,644 total reported compensation
  • CYD WILSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $285,394 total reported compensation
  • MATTHEW HUHN (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $178,654 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 sag-aftra foundation (the "foundation") provides vital assistance and educational programming to the professionals of sag-aftra while serving the public at large through its signature children's literacy program.

What it reported doing in 2024

Performers programs: in order to prepare a dynamic talent pool for success in the evolving entertainment media environment, the foundation offers the performers programs, a broad educational roster with subjects ranging from audition technique and self-marketing to panel discussions with accomplished actors and moderated talks with respected directors. These programs encourage performing artists to take charge of their careers, refine their craft, learn new skills, and establish lifelong habits of self-motivated professional development. Over the course of the last year the foundation continued to scale up in-person performers programs in house as well as continuing to offer virtual programs to the sag-aftra community. The foundation also add new recorded educational content to the foundation's website video gallery and youtube channel, to help ensure that members who are unable to attend in person have access to this programming. The business: the business provides participating members with an enhanced understanding of entertainment's financial and operational mechanics, as well as current trends and conditions across the industry. Attendees learn practical strategies for social media self-marketing, pre-audition preparation, and money management in large format seminars and highly interactive small group sessions. Participants are provided with tools to help them begin to think not only as artists, but also as small business owners, understanding the various markets and the buyers within those markets, and putting in place long-term career plans.conversations: conversations programs present film and television screenings accompanied by moderated discussions with cast members, as well as career conversations with leading actors who have made lasting artistic and professional contributions to the industry. Conversations programming is curated with a focus on projects and associated casts generating both consumer attention and critical honors, offering attendees the opportunity to learn from fellow performing artists who are working in current or recent productions. Guest speakers explore the process and profession of acting and drill down into the personal experiences and artistic influences that have shaped their careers. These insights provide both new and established performers in the audience with an expanded understanding of fresh methods for approaching material, both in auditions and while working on set.casting access: offering critical insight into the casting process, providing members with cold reading experience in an interactive class setting. Participants receive feedback from respected industry casting professionals they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet and learn from.voiceover lab: this programming is designed to prepare members for careers in the voiceover arts. Vo lab programming provides members with instruction, constructive feedback, and advice on career development strategies from respected industry professionals in interactive classes that explore performance technique in multiple voiceover subsets -- including voicing commercials, voice-to-picture promo work, audiobook narration, and animation and video game voice acting. The foundation continues to provide both in-person and virtual programming. On-camera: members have the opportunity to rehearse in front of the camera in our la and ny on-camera labs, which offer quiet, dedicated spaces with industry standard lighting and equipment. Staffed by trained engineers, the on-camera labs are currently providing both in-person and remote one-on-one sessions in which our engineers serve as readers or help members troubleshoot tech-related issues they may be having while self-recording their own auditions. Due to the demand for this program, los angeles offers two labs for in-person sessions daily, as well as additional availability for sessions in the evening and weekends. New York opened a second lab in 2025. Additionally, the foundation has

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 69% for direct work, and 31% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 75.6%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -13.5%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.7; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.5%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.4% of revenue deployed · 75.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $8.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $312K · 28 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $883K reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 7 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.