Scribe Video Center Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 232358942
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Phone
- 2152224201
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,054,821
- Expenses
- $1,752,400
- Assets
- $4,039,714
- Liabilities
- $567,745
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- LOUIS MASSIAH (EXECUTIVE DI): $59,813 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Video and film production education and managing a non-profit community radio station.
What it reported doing in 2024
Scribe held three seasons of programming during the first year of the grant period. Activities included workshops (multiweek, special learning sessions, film scholars, documentary history project for youth), screening series (producers' forum, storyville, body of work, street movies), community production programs (precious places, muslim voices, tenants of lenepahocking, power politics), radio programming (archival revival, local broadcasters, every voice, every vote election coverage, syndicated programming), distribution of our national screening series (we tell). We also supported regional artists in the region with two regranting programs; the philadelphia independent media fund and the philadelphia student mediamakers fund distributing 95,000 per year to grantees. Through these activities, scribe re-writes the media narrative that devalues cultural contributions to the region of people outside of the dominant group. Scribe's work in creating art and documenting culture offers new narratives and new visions to promote equity. The specific results we achieve are: 1) counter the harmful mass-media-narratives in order to honor the voices that are not always found in mainstream books, films, or museum exhibits. 2) work within neighborhoods to make connections between cultural experiences and current-day-communities. 3) share media and train people to produce works that acknowledge harm, find value in lives and cultures from outside the dominant group, and promote greater understanding of these experiences.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 91% 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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 68
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $15.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 90%; rating input score 90; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -66.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.31; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.