The Lunar Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
934154707
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Phone
3376608749
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cultural, Ethnic Awareness

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$187,169
Expenses
$170,467
Assets
$91,537
Liabilities
$89,435

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

People named in this filing

  • ANDREW LEE (BOARD CO-CHAIR)
  • JUSAK YANG BERNHARD (BOARD CO-CHAIR)
  • JEFF MANLEY (BOARD TREASURER)

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

Build economic pathways for asian american, native hawaiian, and pacific islander (aanhpi) artists in central Texas through paid showcases, skill-building programs, and cultural events that generate direct artist revenue.

What it reported doing in 2025

Nightmarket.fun is the lunar foundation's flagship program, an annual aanhpi cultural celebration co-produced with the greater austin asian chamber of commerce (gaacc). The 2025 flagship event took place at lakeline park in cedar park, tx, drawing approximately 2,700 attendees. The event featured over 100 aanhpi artists, performers, food vendors, and cultural entrepreneurs across nine acres of outdoor programming space. Activities included multidisciplinary performances on multiple stages, interactive installations, curated food experiences, family-friendly activities, and thematic zones highlighting aanhpi heritage. The program created paid opportunities for aanhpi artists and small businesses while fostering cross-cultural connection and community engagement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 91.6%; rating input score 92

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.9%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.54; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.98; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 150.6% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 91.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $156K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.