The Key Idea
Legal name: The Key Idea Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813597467
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2017–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- West Hyannisport, MA, US
- Phone
- 5082210536
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Expenses
- $1,471
- Assets
- $5,710
- Liabilities
- $9,358
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LENORE LYONS (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- LENORE LYONS (PRESIDENT)
- DIANE THAYER (TREASURER)
- ELIZABETH GAWRON (CLERK)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Key Idea Project unlocks, collects and showcases the big ideas of adults and children as inspired by used keys.
What it reported doing in 2025
To educate and empower individuals of all ages through creative collaborative experiences inspired by keys.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 15
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: 39.8%; rating input score 40
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: Limited
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.88; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.64; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -22.7% per year; rating input score 0; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -26.2% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -6.2% per year; rating input score 0; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 6 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 39.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $585 in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 4 of 4 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 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 — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 40/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.