Spy Hop Productions

What it reported doing in 2024

Core programs: spy hop productions' core programs take place at the kahlert youth media arts center in salt lake city and are offered for free, year-round to youth ages 12-19. Working collaboratively with their peers and guided by professional media artists, students explore their creativity, identity and career and higher education interests. Scaffolded, hands-on, project-based learning experiences help students build valuable 21st century skills while giving them a foundation in digital and media literacy that prepares them for a future in the growing digital and creative economy. Each year, students create over 1000 works of media that are shared with local, national and international audiences. The following classes comprise spy hop's core programs. Resonate: hip hop production - an alternative hip-hop production and performance program that pushes back against the negative stereotypes of the genre. In this intensive 10-month class, students are challenged to write music and lyrics that relate to their lives, their communities and the world. The program culminates in a live performance at spy hop'sheatwave festival. Loud & clear youth radio - spy hop productions collaborates with salt lake city based community radio station krcl 90.9fm to offer Utah's only youth-produced radio program. In this 8-month long program, participants learn audio production skills, radio history, the craft of storytelling, fcc rules and regulations, writing skills, interviewing, "djing", voice training, and the importance and intricacies of media literacy. Every saturday night, loud and clear youth host their own radio show on krcl, playing music, interviewing guests, hosting live local bands, presenting radio documentaries, and highlighting calendar items pertinent to the youth community. Musicology - musicology gives young musicians the opportunity for a full- spectrum band experience that emphasizes creativity and individual expression. Over a 10-month period, participants write, rehearse and record their own musical material, which culminates in a record release and live performance on stage at spy hop's heatwave festival. Open studio - every friday from 3-7 pm, spy hop productions opens its recording studio and beat-making lab to any youth, age 15-19. Guided by a professional mentor and engineered by audio apprentices, young hip hop artists and other musicians converge and create with other artists, make beats and record, and mix their songs. Pitchnic - pitchnic was conceived in 2001 as an innovative way to unite young filmmakers with supporters of independent film. In this 12-month long program (200+ hours), student writers, directors, and producers work in teams to create two fiction and two documentary films, 10-20 minutes in length. Through the guidance of a professional film mentor, students learn every aspect of the filmmaking process from pre-production and production to post-production and distribution, while mastering professional software such as adobe premier and davinci resolve. The four films are "pitched" at spy hop's annual benefit funds are raised for production costs, giving students a budget from which to work. At the culmination of the program, the students' films are screened at a local theater to a 300-person audience, giving the young filmmakers the opportunity to discuss their creative process and to answer questions from members of the community. While pitchnic serves a total of 12 students per year, the program involves over 100 other youth on production, and numerous community partners. Pitchnic films have gained local, national, and international recognition at numerous film festivals. Reel stories - created in 2002 in collaboration with the sundance institute, reel stories is offered as a one-month, 30-hour per week (120 hours) intensive summer workshop that gives high school students the opportunity to create their own documentaries will learning to work with adobe premiere. The class culminates in a community sc

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 77.7%; rating input score 78
• Fundraising efficiency: $4.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -44.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.18; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings