The Mistake Room Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455002364
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
2137491200
Rating
59
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$342,191
Expenses
$325,511
Assets
$313,715
Liabilities
$27,460

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CESAR GARCIA (DIRECTOR): $22,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mistake room is los angeles's only independent non-profit cultural institution solely devoted to an international program of contemporary art and thought. Founded on a deep commitment to the discovery and advancement of new forms of knowledge and creative expression, the mistake room has at the heart of its mission a single mandate--to generate critical insights into the nature of human creativity and its meaningful role and function in society. Through academic research, exhibitions, artist projects, public programs, educational initiatives, and scholarly publications, the mistake room supports some of the most important artists and cultural producers of our time while bringing local audiences a program of cultural activities that is intellectually rigorous, genuinely diverse, culturally relevant, and reflective of the complexity of our changing world. The mistake room also fosters cross-cultural exchanges amongst the world's most dynamic arts institutions--expanding support and o

What it reported doing in 2016

In addition to these major three exhibition projects, tmr also continued its intl. Curatorial residency and brought three global curators to la for lectures and studio visits. This year we brought magnolia de la garza from mexico city, clara kim from london, uk, and diana betancourt from dhaka, bangladesh. In an effort to continue expanding the way we reach audiences and better serve multiple publics through art and culture, tmr also launched three program initiatives. The first was a new series of performances devoted to supporting the work of artists in dance and choreography. Through a month-long residency in our space, two movement artists were allowed to use our site for rehearsal and also produced a series of performances that gave visitors a different understanding of the process of making dance for a gallery space. We also launched an experimental summer school in guadalajara, mexico, where we sent american and international artists to teach a series of rotating workshops for emerging artists in mexico in a city where there is currently no major art school. We hope that in doing these types of events we can develop a meaningful educational component that is cross-cultural and advances our understanding of other cultures. Lastly, as another way to bring an international art program to la, we launched tmr as hub which is an invitational initiative that invites other art spaces from around the world to take up a non-hosted residency in our space to present a show. We worked with galerie chantal crousel and paramo for this first iteration. We hope to continue these types of international exchanges in years to come.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

MIXED - Most voting board members are independent and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 54.9%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 57.7%; rating input score 58
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.9%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 26% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 54.9% of revenue deployed · 57.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 13 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $188K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $22K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2013 to 2016
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.