The Boston Conservatory
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042126597
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2015
- Forms available
- Form 990 2015
- Location
- Boston, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6175366340
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- University or Technological Institute
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $42,077,485
- Expenses
- $40,307,333
- Assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
30 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Richard Ortner (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Richard Ortner (President): $453,616 total reported compensation
- Eric Norman (VP for Finance and Planning): $266,849 total reported compensation
- Leslie Kaye (VP of Institutional Advancement): $225,375 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To educate exceptional performing artists for careers that enrich and transform the human experience by using skills, creativity and courage nourished in our vibrant multi-disciplinary community of musicians, dancers and actors.
What it reported doing in 2015
A conservatory of music, dance and music theatre, serving over 750 students, offering degrees of bachelor of music, bachelor of fine arts, and master of music and music education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 63% for direct work, and 37% for grants.
- 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.5%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.7%; rating input score 96; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.2%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.5% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 23 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $33.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $454K · 30 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $733K reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2010 to 2015
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.