The Center for Cultural Power

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453154473
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5108752135
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,620,346
Expenses
$10,240,316
Assets
$14,359,055
Liabilities
$815,712

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ (PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR)
  • TARA DORABJI END 082024 (VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • AISHA GOSS (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS OFFICER): $225,053 total reported compensation
  • TARA DORABJI END 082024 (VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER): $221,969 total reported compensation
  • FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ (PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR): $219,082 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Artists transform the world through their powerful art: stories, images, and songs. The center for cultural power exists to create a thriving ecosystem for artists and culture makers to shift worldviews away from domination and extraction toward collaboration and interdependence.the center for cultural power mobilizes artists to envision a world in which cultural, economic, and political power are distributed equitably and where all human beings can live in harmony with nature. Cultural power is an artist-centered cultural strategy organization that promotes the artist as a key agent of social change and is committed to building their collective power. We center values-aligned artists in our cultural and narrative strategy work.

What it reported doing in 2024

Intersectional storytelling: activates artists and movement groups to create inspiring stories on issues of migration, climate, civic, and gender justice that center directly impacted communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 - Most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 58
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.5%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 64.9%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 77.3%; rating input score 77; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.9%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.4; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58.5% of revenue deployed · 64.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 12 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $362K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 36 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.