Sunset Strip Business Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
680517297
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2013
Forms available
Form 990 2013
Location
West Hollywood, CA, USA
Phone
3106597368
Rating
48
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Business and Industry

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,198,121
Expenses
$2,482,541
Assets
$270,451
Liabilities
$883,796

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MIKEAL MAGLIERI (President)
  • GRAIG LAY (Vice President)
  • BRUCE SILBERMAN (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • TODD STEADMAN (Executive Direc): $117,973 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide services to area businesses under California business improvement district law

What it reported doing in 2013

The SSBA works with member businesses to promote and market The Sunset Strip throughout the year with press releases, media pitches, special promotions and events. Some PR campaigns that received media attention included: Sunset Strip GuitarTown - A public art exhibit that features 10-foot tall art guitars placed along the boulevard that celebrate The Sunset Strips history. GuitarTown also provides visitors an interactive walking tour of the boulevard. The guitars have also helped increase foot traffic with visitors stopping to take photos with the guitars. A range of artists participated in the 2013 installment, including Linkin Parks Mike Shinoda, tattoo artist Kat Von D, tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle, who was close friends with Janis Joplin, sculptor Eugene Daub, who recently created the Rosa Parks sculpture for the U.S. capitol, and jewelry designer Kathy Rose. Local business owners, art aficionados and music fans raised $40,611 at The Sunset Strip GuitarTown charity auction held Feb. 21 at Bonhams. The proceeds benefited Music for Relief, the nonprofit organization founded by members of Linkin Park to support disaster relief, provide aid to survivors of natural disasters and support the prevention of such disasters via environmental programs. The auction was covered by numerous media outlets including the CBS Sunday Morning Show. It received more than 6 million viewers nationwide.Sunset Strip Holiday Promotions - Compiled list of special offers and events hosted by businesses along The Strip to publicize activities to L.A. area residents. The list includes activities from New Years Eve concerts at music venues to special holiday dining menus/offers. The goal is to showcase the various events taking place along The Strip during the holiday season. Valentines, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Holiday Dinners and Shopping and New Years Eve lists were created and promoted on TheSunsetStrip.com and Facebook.Sunset Strip Market - A seasonal weekly farmers market features organic and conventional California growers as well as artisan food purveyors takes place Thursday nights at the City of West Hollywood public lot (8755 Sunset Blvd.) The Market also featured live acoustic entertainment, beer and wine tasting, chef dinners and chef shopping program. The goal of the Market is to build community and further economic development. The weekly event attracts 500 people. Sunset Strip Market was named the best after hours Market in LA by Timeout.com. The Market also received coverage in Patch, Wehoville, LA Weekly, LAist and Daily Candy. Social Media - SSBA aggressively promoted The Sunset Strip as well as the programs, activities and events through its social media efforts. Facebook fan page for The Sunset Strip has 32,000+ fans and SSMF has nearly 65,700 fans. Twitter accounts @TheSunsetStrip and @SSMF have more than 43,000 followers. Sunset Strip VIP All Access Pass - VIP All Access Program designed to encourage travelers to stay at Sunset Strip hotels. Hotel visitors from the Andaz West Hollywood, The Grafton, The London West Hollywood, Mondrian, The Standard Hollywood, Sunset Plaza Best Western and the Sunset Marquis were entitled to free admission to the live entertainment venues on The Sunset Strip, including: The Comedy Store, House of Blues, The Roxy Theatre, Viper Room, the Rainbow and Whisky A Go-Go. TheSunsetStrip.com - The official online resource for information and news on restaurants, shows, shopping, nightlife and everything that is The Sunset Strip. The website features weekly picks showcasing the top shows and entertainment events on The Strip. Additional content includes photo galleries, interviews with local personalities and artists, and calendar of events. The website is promoted through Google and Facebook. On average the website receives more than 13,000 unique visitors and 24,000 page views a month.Sunset Strip Street Pole Banners - The Association also developed a street pole banner program for the Boulevard designed to

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 0
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 10
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.9%; rating input score 98; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.9%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.11; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 3.27; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -13.1% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $118K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 13 of 15 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2010 to 2013
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.