South Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
561129587
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
4048747244
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$15,300,474
Expenses
$16,700,039
Assets
$18,339,996
Liabilities
$12,216,332

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

Leadership & pay

34 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Suzette Surkamer (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Suzette Surkamer (Executive Director): $305,675 total reported compensation
  • Joy Young (VP of Programs): $152,325 total reported compensation
  • Charles Phaneuf (VP of Strategy): $141,173 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

South arts strengthens the south through advancing excellence in the arts by presenting programs and connecting with state arts agencies in the region.

What it reported doing in 2024

South arts, with support from the national endowment for the arts, offers grants and subsidies in an effort to strengthen presentersganizational capacity, and to sustain and expand markets for arts organizations and artists. Through our regional engagement funds, we support publicly accessible performances and programs that provide opportunities for artists to engage within communities. This program contributes to the sustainability of arts organizations and supports high artistic quality projects with strong educational and outreach components for the participants across the region. Included are training, education, technical assistance, film screenings, traditional arts, and touring grants to performing and literary arts organizations. The program also includes cross-sector impact grants that aim to facilitate partnerships between the arts community and other sectors (non-arts organizations).

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 65% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 74% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.2%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 84.3%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $53.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 89%; rating input score 89; 19th 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.67; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.2% of revenue deployed · 84.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 30 of 30 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 9 filed program accomplishments · $14.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $306K · 34 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $686K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 237 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 233 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.