Spark Arts Ignite Learning
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 920300792
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
- Location
- Missoula, MT, USA
- Phone
- 4065311981
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $456,430
- Expenses
- $509,293
- Assets
- $31,919
- Liabilities
- $5,638
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ROBIN CHECOTA (President)
- SIENNA SOLBERG (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SIENNA SOLBERG (Executive Dir.): $77,818 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Spark! Arts ensures equity and access to the arts for all K-8 students at Missoula County Public Schools in creative writing, dance, drama and theater, music, puppetry, story telling, and visual arts.
What it reported doing in 2024
O 5,249 MCPS PK-8 students experienced ongoing, diverse arts education, including professional performances, gallery visits, in-school artist residencies, and enhancement activities.o Collaborated with MCPS to design a new arts integration charter school, TEACH Academy to be a model and lab school for district teachers to learn arts integration strategies through observations and hands-on experience.o Delivered arts integration professional development to local teaching artists and all K-5 classroom teachers, led by nationally renowned trainers, including Focus 5 team and Glenis Redmond.o Presented a concurrent session, titled, Reigniting Joy: Sparking Creativity & Innovation in Teaching & Learning through a District-Wide Arts Integration Initiative, at a national conference.o Hosted IGNITE Arts Integration Conference and celebration to mark our 10-year anniversary of programming. 300 educators from across Missoula county, Montana and the country attended.curriculum content.community members to create a strategic district-wide arts integration plan, and to oversee implementation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% 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
STRONG - 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: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 17
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 98.9%; rating input score 99
- Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $18.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -11.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 40.1% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 70.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -34.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 98.9% of revenue deployed · 88.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $451K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.