The Art of Elysium
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 954673306
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Phone
- 2133893201
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,108,066
- Expenses
- $1,312,083
- Assets
- $368,836
- Liabilities
- $2,057,177
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER KRISTEN HOWELL (Founder): $139,709 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We empower artists and communities of need to join together and emotionally triumph over their circumstances through art.The Art of Elysium is an artist organization built on the idea that through service, art becomes a catalyst for social change. Our full circle approach rewards altruistic creativity by giving back to artists who share their gifts with those in need. Artists volunteer. We support our artists. Through service, our creative communities thrive. We pair volunteer artists with communities in Los Angeles to support individuals in the midst of difficult emotional life challenges like illness, hospitalization, displacement, confinement, and/or crisis. We serve medically fragile children, teens, adults, seniors, those dealing with social, emotional and mental health issues, and the homeless.
What it reported doing in 2024
Weekly tailor-made workshops in 4 disciplines (fashion & design, film & theatre, music & movement, visual arts) serving medically fragile children, teens, adults, seniors, those dealing with social, emotional and mental health issues and the homeless. Programs showcase volunteer artists and the communities served. The Art of Elysium also offers a selection of arts-based support programs and resources to help young people cope with the many psychosocial challenges that can accompany illness, chronic medical conditions, and the challenges of economic insecurity.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 74% 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 83
- Sustainability: 13
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.8%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.62 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th 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: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- 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: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -18.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 5.58; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.6% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -12.5% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.8% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $918K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.