The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

State community regrant (scr) funds from the New York state council on the arts (nysca), a state agency, are administered locally by the arts council of the southern finger lakes (the arts council). They are distributed in three different grants: 1) community arts grants support arts and cultural activities of artists and organizations in service to residents in cattaraugus, chemung, schuyler, steuben, and tioga counties. These activities increase the value of the arts as an integral part of the community and make the arts accessible to all. Grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 are available to artists and nonprofit organizations. 2) teaching artist grants support sequential, arts education projects that take place in-school, after school, or in community centers in cattaraugus, chemung, schuyler, steuben, and tioga counties. Projects can only support k-12 aged students. Project must provide at least 3 sequential, teaching sessions between the same teaching artist(s) and the same group of students.grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 are available to artists and nonprofit organizations. 3) individual artist grants support the creation of new work by individual artists residing in cattaraugus, chemung, schuyler, steuben, and tioga counties. The goal of this grant is to support the creative work of individual artists in all disciplines while encouraging interaction between artists and community members. All created artwork must be made accessible to the community through an activity or platform that can be accessible to the general public. Grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 are available to individual artists.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 83.4%; rating input score 83
• Fundraising efficiency: $5.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 75.9%; rating input score 76; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
• 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: -93.6%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.09; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings