Street Lab Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
264812025
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Phone
2129415084
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$890,696
Expenses
$804,116
Assets
$529,873
Liabilities
$10,312

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Leslie Davol (Executive Director)
  • Jane Sujen Bock (President and Chair)

Highest reported compensation

  • Leslie Davol (Executive Director): $110,405 total reported compensation
  • Sam Davol (Creative Director and Clerk): $78,286 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Street Lab transforms the street-level environment of New York City to improve lives strengthen neighborhoods and bring New Yorkers together. We use a pop-up approach to do this partnering with community groups and city government to bring immediate benefits to residents while laying the groundwork for long-term change. We also fabricate and ship programming kits to nonprofit groups and government entities in other cities that want to copy our model.

What it reported doing in 2025

We activated 104 public spaces across NYC a total of 556 times with our signature pop-ups including 308 times at new School Streets and Play Streets that Street Lab helped community groups to develop see below each time lasting an average of three hours at a time 97% in low- to moderate- income areas always free to the public. All were in response to requests from local groups and city agencies. 41 out of 556 pop-ups in locations such as Washington Square Park earned us a fee. Programming consisted of Street Labs custom-designed pop-ups for public space e.g. READ NYC a pop-up reading room; BUILD NYC interactive building stations; PLAY NYC a colorful obstacle course; and more. Pop-ups were provided complete with Street Lab staffing a total of 219 times and in the form of kits lent out to community-based organizations to run themselves through our Equipment Library for Public Space 337 times. To help new public spaces succeed Street Lab also contracted with three different teaching artists to paint a mural in one location and lead arts activities in others. Approximately 33,000 people in 57 neighborhoods of the city benefited by participating in Street Labs programming. Many hundreds more benefited by observing the pop-ups in passing. Surveys and other feedback suggested that the pop-ups made people feel safer and and more connected to their neighbors and the city. To achieve this level of service Street Lab paid 16 staff part-time to help run our pop-ups on the street and engaged 36 volunteers. We also had help from 15 youth interns whom we paid through the Citys Summer Youth Employment Program. NYC Dept of Transportation provided in-kind moving services 155 times value of 77,500.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.5%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th 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: Limited
  • 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.5%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.5% of revenue deployed · 67% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $539K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $110K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 46 of 46 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.