The Art and Creative Materials Inst Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
136115214
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Hingham, MA, USA
Phone
7815561044
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,737,136
Expenses
$1,307,509
Assets
$7,836,623
Liabilities
$75,415

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

People named in this filing

  • STEVE BOYEA (DIRECTOR)
  • COLLEEN CAREY BRENNAN (DIRECTOR & T)
  • SARA CAMPBELL (DIRECTOR)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Be recognized as the leading private-sector authority on the safe use of art and creative materials and be the premier provider of a certification program for the toxicological testing and labeling of art and creative materials.

What it reported doing in 2025

Certification program to evaluate products of members for safety; promotion of the certification program and safety issues of art materials to members; numerous publications and main website to provide information on product safety for the public and a newsletter for members and other interested parties; providing compliance to federal laws administered by the consumer product safety commission for these members; monitoring of legislation that affects these members and their products; contribution to another organization to promote art and art education; an annual technical committee meeting which is open to members and other interested and invited parties. This is a current and long-term program for the foreseeable future.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 44
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 41.1%; rating input score 41
  • Program expense ratio: 64.8%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.7%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.99; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 41.1% of revenue deployed · 64.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $848K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 41/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.