The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133872803
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2127309646
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,707,677
Expenses
$3,945,293
Assets
$9,850,978
Liabilities
$2,405,126

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

Leadership & pay

42 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PETER LYDEN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • PETER LYDEN (PRESIDENT): $388,523 total reported compensation
  • CAROLINE SLATEN (VP DEVELOPME): $160,384 total reported compensation
  • EDITH PLATTEN (VP EDUCATION): $147,082 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The icaa's mission is to advance the appreciation and practice of the principles of traditional architecture and its allied arts by engaging educators, professionals, students, and enthusiasts through education, publications, and awards programs in New York city and across its 15 chapters.

What it reported doing in 2024

Legacy grants program: thanks to a generous grant from the gerard b. Lambert foundation, the institute of classical architecture & art was proud to present first-of-its-kind programming in landscape architecture for designers, students, and enthusiasts, with particular emphasis on educating the next generation: the bunny mellon curricula. This curricula, the first to be named in honor of bunny mellon, honors her commitment to landscape design, and her deeply held belief that architecture is firmly linked to its surrounding landscape. The richard h. Driehaus curricula for the built environment endowment fund has given the icaa the resources to regularly update and expand its educational curricula and programming, particularly as new issues or areas of concern arise in architectural design. This initiative will launch new offerings regarding current issues like urbanism, sustainability, and healthy cities still highlighting the importance of historic preservation and precedent, especially how it pertains to shared public spaces. With the receipt of generous grants from the orville gordon browne foundation, the icaa began work on a redesigned website, classicist.org with sophisticated design, strong imagery, and intuitive navigation. Amongst other features, the website offers vastly upgraded functionality for membership and donation transactions. In addition to the aforementioned features, the redesigned classicist.org and the support from the orville gordon browne foundation has also made it possible for the icaa to offer several readily-accessible educational features on its website, including: a digital version of the classicist publication, a digital rare books archive, an online plaster cast hall catalogue among other improvements. With these grants, the icaa has also been able to offer several drawing tours and scholarships. A giant benefit due to this grant is the icaa's ability to create video projects, which were a boon during the global pandemic. The icaa's videos are particularly impactful for the student and programming in landscape architecture for designers, students, and young professional audience, making it possible to enhance their own educational journeys with supplementary content, and to round out their education in architecture and design.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.3%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 69.7%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 27th 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: -6.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.5; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.3% of revenue deployed · 69.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 35 of 36 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $389K · 42 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $500K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.