Signature Theatre Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
621417785
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
5715271860
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,649,702
Expenses
$16,098,791
Assets
$17,412,465
Liabilities
$7,673,374

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

Leadership & pay

43 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • GARDINER MATTHEW (DIRECTOR): $198,365 total reported compensation
  • BOLAND MAGGIE (DIRECTOR): $181,183 total reported compensation
  • STANLEY CHRISTINE (DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT AND PLANNING): $159,317 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Professional theatre productions

What it reported doing in 2024

Professional theatre productions - main productions consisting of musicals, plays, cabaret performances, and stage readings for new play development.

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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.6%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • 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: 3.3%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.5%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.6% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 38 of 38 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $14.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $198K · 43 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $371K reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.