The Arts Council of Erie
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 256085617
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Erie, PA, USA
- Phone
- 8144523427
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Council/Agency
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $897,879
- Expenses
- $1,309,466
- Assets
- $4,826,143
- Liabilities
- $129,768
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
People named in this filing
- ANTHONY DABREO (BOARD MEMBER)
- MATTHEW FLOWERS (BOARD MEMBER)
- PAULA GREGORY (TREASURER)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Erie arts and culture (eac) provides social and financial resources and services for artists, arts and culture organizations, and culture bearers through endowments and its partnership with Pennsylvania council on the arts (pca). Eac grants funds to individual artists and arts and culture organizations through its endowments and regranting through its pca partnership. The pca partnership also funds lifelong learning opportunities for people of different ages and abilities through the arts and learning program, and documents and preserves diverse cultures through the folk arts program.
What it reported doing in 2024
Eac provided grants to individual artists, arts and culture organizations, and creative entrepreneurs; professional development opportunities for creative entrepreneurs; workshops and trainings for teaching artists; arts education opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities; support for new american and refugee-owned small businesses; documented diverse cultures; and marketing support for arts and culture initiatives in the community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - 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: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 82.5%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 84.9%; rating input score 85; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 7 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: 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: -45.8%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.69; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.