Southwest Creative Studio

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
923561551
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Rating
56
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$67,671
Expenses
$50,291
Assets
$50,962

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Crystal Loren (Executive Director)
  • Marcus Spearman (Board President)

People named in this filing

  • Crystal Loren (Executive Director)
  • Allison Burke (Program Director)
  • Jessica Reddick (Resident Artist)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Arts education youth mentorship community engagement local business vendor advocacy public art production

What it reported doing in 2025

Placemaking and Mentorship: Mentorship of over 15 teens and young adults. Help with college apps job search and projects. Also Public events at vacant storefronts and with partner organizations. Served over 1200 people this year at various events. Also managed local business relations with organizations that offer them services. Connected families and community to their community through art activations and safe public events in their communities

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 74% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 32
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 28.5%; rating input score 29
  • Program expense ratio: 38.4%; rating input score 38

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.7%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.01; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 79% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 28.5% of revenue deployed · 38.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $19K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.