The Covey Theater Company Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921414386
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Syracuse, NY, USA
Phone
3152785579
Rating
91
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$77,840
Expenses
$76,988
Assets
$33,010
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Garrett Heater (President)
  • Michael Penny (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Garrett Heater (President)
  • Michael Penny (Vice President)
  • Sara Weiler (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Bringing high-quality, diverse, accessible theatre to a broad patron base.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Covey Theater Company presented 3 diverse productions to fruition in 2025: Original Production of Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, Into the Woods, How to Succeed in Business. Covey utilized two accessible spaces in downtown Syracuse for these productions: The Everson Museum of Arts Hosmer Auditorium, and The Oncenters Bevard Studio.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 70% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 96
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 96.7%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $261.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.7% of revenue deployed · 96.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $74K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.