The Detroit Creativity Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
464485478
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Farmington Hills, MI, USA
Phone
3107410249
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$380,808
Expenses
$266,573
Assets
$251,252
Liabilities
$7,514

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • NANCY HAYDEN EDWARDS (EXECUTIVE DI): $23,366 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The detroit creativity project ("dcp") seeks to empower and inspire detroit's young people through improvisation, an art form that helps people build confidence and develop a creative and collaborative approach to their lives.

What it reported doing in 2025

The detroit creativity project (dcp)was incorporated as a California non- profit organization with a mission to empower and inspire detroit's youth people through improvisation, an art form that helps students build confidence and develop a creative and collaborative approach to their lives. Dcp created the improv project to deliver on this mission. The improv project inculdes year-around programming to detroit-area youth and educators through workshops, semester-long improv courses, and improv- integrated classes to build literacy skills and social/emotional learning. The youth being served represent diverse ethnic and cultural groups and come from neighborhoods across detroit. Most are considered economically disadvantaged by federal poverty measures. The majority of the dcp's programs are free. A small portion of 2025 revenue was attributed to paid programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 50.5%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 71.9%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 30%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.94; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 50.5% of revenue deployed · 71.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $192K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $23K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.