The Center for the Performing Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
203901164
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Carmel, IN, USA
Phone
3176603373
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,400,710
Expenses
$10,537,504
Assets
$19,160,652
Liabilities
$2,093,880

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

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEFF MCDERMOTT (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEFF MCDERMOTT (CEO): $314,662 total reported compensation
  • DAN KEMER (VP PRODUCTION): $195,781 total reported compensation
  • JEFF STEEG (COO): $191,808 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of the center for the performing arts is to engage and inspire the central Indiana community through enriching arts experiences.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education and outreach: allied solutions center serves the community through a range of educational experiences and outreach events for all ages, including classes in music and stand-up comedy, campus tours, masterclasses, clinics, exclusive artist q&a sessions for students, the peanut butter & jam preschool performance series, the palladium bookies reading club, the luminaries weekday speaker series, the prism project performing arts camp for youth with disabilities, and the new works artist commission program. During fiscal year 2025, attendance at these programs totaled more than 11,500.the permanently affiliated great american songbook foundation was founded in 2007 by performer and preservationist michael feinstein with a mission to inspire and educate by celebrating the great american songbook. The foundation is home to a public exhibit gallery and the vast songbook library & archives, which preserves artifacts, arrangements, correspondence and other materials from the personal collections of composers, performers and other figures from the 20th century foundational era of american popular music. Each year the foundation conducts the songbook academy summer intensive, a leading national program for high school singers that is dedicated to the music of the songbook. The foundation also recognizes lifetime achievement in support of the songbook by inducting songwriters, singers and other artists into the great american songbook hall of fame.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 54
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.5%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 68.3%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 26.8%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.82; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 51.5% of revenue deployed · 68.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 29 of 29 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $7.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $315K · 36 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.1M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.