Sweetwater Art Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 251263463
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Sewickley, PA, USA
- Phone
- 4127414405
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,579,105
- Expenses
- $1,110,257
- Assets
- $2,313,110
- Liabilities
- $556,721
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sarah Aziz (Vice President)
- Terri Tunick (President)
- Christine Brondyke (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Christine Brondyke (Executive Director): $90,347 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To enrich the lives of children and adults in the communities that we serve by providing excellence in arts education and cultural programming.
What it reported doing in 2025
For over four decades, the place that people throughout the region have discovered to create, experience, and celebrate the arts is Sewickleys Sweetwater Center for the Arts. Our mission is simple: to enrich the lives of children and adults in the communities we serve by providing excellence in arts education and cultural programming. Sweetwaters story began in 1975 when a group of friends and neighbors in Sewickley came together to open an arts center where they could study and create art. That first community was small, operating in a single-family home with a pottery studio in a garage. Over the years, Sweetwaters community has grown, and we have transformed to become a regional hub that offers more than 400 classes, 6 gallery exhibitions, 10 musical performances, and countless artist lectures, auctions, and experiences in the arts. We also have a robust outreach program, further expanding our community through partnerships with more than 10 organizations in three counties.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 65% 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
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 57.5%; rating input score 58
- Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th 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: 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: 29.7%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.08; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 57.5% of revenue deployed · 79% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $877K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 19 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.