Spaces

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
341244922
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Cleveland, OH, USA
Phone
2166212314
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Visual Arts Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$651,631
Expenses
$601,009
Assets
$2,080,982
Liabilities
$121,641

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DOLORES GARCIA (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • PITA BROOKS (EXECUTIVE DI): $57,077 total reported compensation
  • FANNA GEBREYESUS (FRMR EXEC DI): $15,885 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Spaces is for the advancement of public interest and participation in the visual performing and fine arts by providing a resource and public forum for artists to explore and experiment.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, spaces advanced its mission as a commissioning organization and public forum for experimental art by supporting 60 cultural producers through exhibitions, residencies, grants, and employment, and engaging over 3,100 participants across on-site, off-site, and public programs. Through its residency and exhibition model, artists were invited to cleveland to develop ambitious, research-driven work responsive to urgent social, cultural, and environmental issues. Spaces presented three exhibitions, hosted an artist-in-residence, and produced 19 public programs, alongside eight satellite fund-supported projects that extended into the community. The organization also published the everlasting plastics catalogue, further expanding the reach of its programming beyond the gallery. Spaces continued to provide critical resources rarely accessible outside major institutions through its regranting, residency, and exhibition programs, supporting the creation of new, publicly engaged work. Across all programs, spaces emphasized artist compensation, access to space and tools, and opportunities for public dialogue. By integrating exhibitions with audience-centered programming-on-site, off-site, and digital-spaces fostered a deeper understanding of contemporary art and its civic value, strengthening cleveland's cultural ecosystem while contributing to conversations at a national and international level.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.7%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.8%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.46; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.1%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.7% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $480K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $57K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.