The Marks Project Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
462039930
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Hope Valley, RI, USA
Phone
4015392891
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$72,223
Expenses
$66,467
Assets
$14,509

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARTHA B VIDA (President)
  • JOSEPHINE LAURIA FARGO (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • MARTHA B VIDA (President)
  • JOSHUA KOPIN (Secretary)
  • JOSEPHINE LAURIA FARGO (Vice President)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Mission: To create and maintain a searchable online database of signatures, marks, work images and biographical information for American mid-20th- and 21st-century studio potters, ceramic artists and artists using the medium of clay working from 1945 onward.Vision: To provide a primary research platform to assist scholars, museum specialists, collectors and creators in the identification and understanding of American studio potters, ceramic artists and artists working in the medium of clay.THE MARKS PROJECT (TMP) IS AN EDUCATIONAL NOT-FOR-PROFIT THAT DOCUMENTS THE WORK, MARKS, AND HISTORIES POST-WAR (1945 ONWARD) OF AMERICAN POTTERS, SCULPTORS AND CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS WHO USE THE MEDIUM OF CLAY (THE MAKERS). ALL IS MADE SEARCHABLE AND FREELY AVAILABLE TO RESEARCHERS, MUSEUM SPECIALISTS AND THE PUBLIC WORLDWIDE VIA WWW.THEMARKSPROJECT.ORG. IN ITS 8TH FULL YEAR ONLINE, THE MARKS PROJECT WEBSITE DOCUMENTS EACH ARTIST BY A UNIQUE WEB-PAGE THAT IS INDEXED THROUGH THE WEBSITE. ARTIST PAGES MAY

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2020, we undertook a website redesign to improve processing time necessitated by significant increases in user page load times and projected additional future website traffic. During this redesign problems arose and, by early 2022, we hired a new designer who was able to move the project forward with beta testing beginning in the summer of 2023. The new website will update the appearance of the web pages and will refine search functions to improve the user experience on all digital devices. The first phase of the new website is projected to launch in the fall of 2024. During 2023, we expanded our board of directors and now have 10 members with expertise in technology, fundraising, website marketing & publicity, promoting ethnic diversity in the arts, and outreach to regional museums and universities. Combined with the advisory board established in 2022, we now have a much broader reach and enchanced expertise for promoting our programs in the greater ceramics world. We continue to promote our website tools via participation in the annual national council on education for the ceramic arts (nceca) conference. About 5,000 artists, designers, educators and scholars attended this years conference in richmond, va. Additionally, we publish a biweekly newsletter distributed to about 3,000 subscribers and promote our name via articles in regional and national ceramics related publications.

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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 95
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

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%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.8% per year; rating input score 0; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -12.4% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -7.4% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $66K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.