Spark Filmmakers Collaborative Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 833163523
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2019–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7168809324
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Education
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,593
- Expenses
- $11,209
- Assets
- $515
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
2 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lukia Costello (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Lukia Costello (Executive Director)
- Steven Rosenthal (Treasurer)
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
Presentation of short film screenings, media production workshops, filmmaker panel discussions, encore screenings with the intent of expanding cultural literacy and supporting and inspiring independent voices of all abilities, ages, income levels, gender identifications, ethnicities and sexual identities to share their stories and vision through film and video creation.
What it reported doing in 2025
Haudenosaunee Micro Short Film Program (Sept 6, 2025- in-person Indigenous artist-hosted, curated short film programs (3) with filmmaker panel discussions. Stipend provided covered curation, promotional design, screening fees and a 50% revenue share of all donations received related to the in-person event and online programming. ** outstanding balance of $1166 paid in 2025 to participants/contractor artists
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 98%; rating input score 98
- Program expense ratio: 75.1%; rating input score 75
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -30.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.05; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 27.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 23.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 98% of revenue deployed · 75.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 2 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.