Swan Songs Musical Last Wishes
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203174875
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Phone
- 5124167926
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Hospices
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $539,919
- Expenses
- $554,000
- Assets
- $659,442
- Liabilities
- $78,099
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Christine Albert (Founder and CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Christine Albert (Founder and CEO): $100,301 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Swan Songs fulfills musical last wishes by organizing private concerts for individuals with a terminal illness or nearing the end of life. At no cost to the family, a favorite style of music or regional musician is brought directly to the home or care facility. Committed to supporting live music in the community, Swan Songs compensates its musicians for each performance.
What it reported doing in 2024
Swan Songs core program is the fulfillment of musical last wishes through private, personalized concerts. The concerts are available to any patient in a noncurative phase of care in the greater Central Texas area, whether they are in a hospital, care facility or in a private home. The concert requests can be for a specific local or regional musician, a musical genre, style, or instrument that has special meaning to the patient. Swan Songs works diligently to match the request with the appropriate musicians. Musicians are compensated for each performance, and there is no cost to the recipient, their family, or the facility. Trained volunteers attend the concerts on Swan Songs behalf, collect any necessary paperwork, and document the concert.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 96% 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 some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.8%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 82.6%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $22.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd 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; 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: -2.6%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.19; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 84.8% of revenue deployed · 82.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $457K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 29/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.