The Elevated Studio Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472702408
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Beacon, NY, USA
Phone
6467597513
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Disaster Preparedness and Relief Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$161,388
Expenses
$170,222
Assets
$12,000
Liabilities
$8,241

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brian Baer (Executive Director/President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Brian Baer (Executive Director/President): $35,600 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

By providing one-on-one design assistance to homeowners whose home has been lost to or destroyed by natural disasters; by providing gap-funding and grants to provide financial assistance to vulnerable population to allow them to rebuild their homes after they have been damaged by natural disasters.

What it reported doing in 2023

Resilience through design and education clinics [REDC] - currently, the organization's primary program is our resilience through design and education clinics [the REDC program]. its fundamental purpose is to provide education and design services to property owners, particularly those whose structure were damaged during the weather events related to hurricane Sandy in 2012. The organization also provides financial and disaster case management services to certain qualified property owners. The REDC program is a multi-faceted program serving nationally. Its overarching goal is to provide a property owner with the guidance and resources to answer the question, "Now that my property has been damaged, what now? How to I make my home and my family safe from future weather events"?

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.2%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 89.3%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.5%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.07; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.69; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.9%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -22.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -12.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -24% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.2% of revenue deployed · 89.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $152K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $36K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2016 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.