Sol-la Music Academy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262128710
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Monica, CA, USA
Phone
3108282912
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$560,457
Expenses
$615,085
Assets
$156,555
Liabilities
$35,357

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ALISON S PERRINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JERRA SPENCE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAVIER IGLESIAS-MARTIN (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $84,764 total reported compensation
  • ALISON S PERRINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $53,691 total reported compensation
  • JERRA SPENCE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $25,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sol-la music academy provides outstanding music education in an encouraging and engaging environment that fosters achievement and community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sol-la campus program: sol-la offers lessons, classes, ensembles, chamber groups, music theory, and early education to over 250 students each year at santa monica campus, bringing together a diverse student population as a community of musicians. Classes and ensembles run from september to june, and are divided into two 16-week semesters. Individual lessons occur year-round. Sol-la supports access to music education for all children, as well as high standards of excellence & achievement. We provide tuition assistance to over 50% of students in our on-campus classes. As sol-la is a community school, we embrace children of all levels and we believe that music should be part of every childs education. Sol-la supports the commitment & talent of particularly high-achieving students. Students are consistent winners at competitions throughout southern California, as well as recipients of scholarship award, acceptances to prestigious university and summer music programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 67% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 53
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.3%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 55.9%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.7%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.6%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.3% of revenue deployed · 55.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $344K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $85K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.