Sod House Theater
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 822051698
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
- Location
- St Anthony Village, MN, USA
- Phone
- 6124142083
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $78,663
- Expenses
- $147,172
- Assets
- $103,957
- Liabilities
- $1,204
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Luverne Seifert (Artistic Dir): $22,068 total reported compensation
- Darcey Engen (Executive Dir.): $15,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Sod House Theater brings people together through playful collaboration to create immersive, community-engaged theater and space for public dialog and action.
What it reported doing in 2024
Sod House Theater created and performed 3 productions in 2024. The first production was entitled, FIVE MORE MINUTES, a play about an elderly couple who are facing dementia and challenges of the caregivers who help them. Five More Minutes addresses a primary need for awareness around Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementia, and accessible spaces to learn about resources and connect to further support if needed. Five More Minutes was developed with support from the Minnesota State Arts Board and Metro Regional Arts Council. The show was performed at THE HIVE in St. Paul, MN and at the YES! House in Granite Falls, The Mercantile in Madison and The Little Theater in New London. The second production was TABLE, a show that centered around a hilarious and eccentric all female catering company that sang, danced and served a 4-course meal. Sod House joined forces with chefs from all across the state to curate meals that were served by our troupe of comedic performers. TABLE was performed in New Brighton, New London, Princeton and Minneapolis. The third and final production, ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, was performed last July on the banks of the Mississippi in beautiful St. Cloud Minnesota. The production featured St. Cloud actors and musicians. 20 musicians and actors worked on the production and the play was performed for 4 nights to over 300 audience members.
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
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: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 58
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 13th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- 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: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -87.1%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 25.2%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $130K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $22K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.