The Playwrights Realm

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261258354
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2122553089
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,708,153
Expenses
$1,316,596
Assets
$2,371,528
Liabilities
$152,662

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Roberta Pereira (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Christopher Berry (Executive Dir.): $79,426 total reported compensation
  • Roberta Pereira (Executive Director): $8,252 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Devoted to supporting early career playwrights along the journey of playwrighting; helping them to hone their craft, and fully realize their vision & build meaningful artistic careers.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Playwrights Realm successfully supported the work of over 200 playwrights in the 2024-25 season through the following programs: (1) The Writing Fellowship, which takes four promising early-career writers through an open submission process and provides Fellows with creative guidance, monthly meetings, a public reading in the INKD Festival, and more; (2) The Scratchpad Series, which aims to erase the geographic and economic limitations of workshopping a show with early-career playwrights from across the nation; (3) The Realm Playwrights Program, which provides playwrights with continued support after their initial engagement with The Realm offering continued artistic guidance, readings of new work, retreats and writers groups, as well as additional funding for other needs; and (4) Aspiring Playwrights Program, which includes Script Share, which pairs aspiring playwrights by lottery with industry leaders for a one-hour discussion (with over 100 playwrights receiving sessions this year); and also a free online resource of articles and videos geared towards that audience. This season The Playwrights Realm also produced the Beyond The Realm festival, showcasing three bold new plays that dont fit in the traditional play development model: LM Feldmans HAND FOOT HAND, Aurora Real de Asuas THE PRIDE BEFORE, and Jordan Ramirez Pucketts TRANSITIONAL LOVE STORIES.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.4%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 77.2%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th 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: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.9%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.8; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.4% of revenue deployed · 77.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 18 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $79K · 19 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.