The Backstage Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843667489
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Lakewood, WA, USA
Phone
2535499643
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking Foundations N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$113,181
Expenses
$120,208
Assets
$19,975
Liabilities
$927

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KARI HOVDE (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • KARI HOVDE (PRESIDENT)
  • DENISE KEEGAN (TREASURER)
  • KARRAS MILLER (SECRETARY)

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

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

Overview

Mission

Empowering youth through dance, arts, and mentorship.

What it reported doing in 2025

Individual scholarships paid to dance related organizations throughout the region on behalf of individual dancers for tuition, dancewear, intensives, workshops, and other dance related expenses.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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 program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 41
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42.3%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 39.8%; rating input score 40

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.2%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 38.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -28.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42.3% of revenue deployed · 39.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $48K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.