Spooky Action Theater Company

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
421646001
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2010
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2022480301
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$300,286
Expenses
$319,427
Assets
$159,344
Liabilities
$55,613

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

People named in this filing

  • KATHERINE LANGE (BOARD PRESID)
  • ADAM R HUNTER (BOARD CHAIR)
  • J PATRICK LITTLEFIELD (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. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Recharge our imaginative, intuitive, emotional core, and rekindle our shared consciousness. Projects include full productions of plays (both new and previously produced), fully staged book-in-hand productions, readings that employ minimal movement and staging, and experimental workshops for members of the theater community, with special emphasis on engaging students in the greater Washington dc area.

What it reported doing in 2024

In the fall of 2024, we produced the world premiere of the play cracking zeus by christopher t. Hampton, directed by mosaic artistic director reginald l. Douglas, which generated 2 helen hayes award nominations and 1 helen hayes award. In the spring, we produced the world premiere of the rock musical professor wolands black magic rock show by michael pemberton, directed by sat artistic director elizabeth dinkova, which garnered 8 helen hayes awards nominations. For world pride, we produced the one-woman circus show lucy juggles: a show about queer joy, juggling & identity, which garnered 2 helen hayes nominations. We also produced a cabaret series supporting local poc artists in doing their first original concerts and a concert by tony award winning playwright and rock musician stew stewart. For our education program, we conducted a class for elementary students at breakthrough montessori and a summer internship for high school students with the sitar arts center/bloomberg foundation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% 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.
  • 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.5%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 74.2%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $299.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.6% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -25.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.5% of revenue deployed · 74.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $237K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.