Theater Latte Da

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411908432
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
6123393003
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,375,500
Expenses
$3,906,746
Assets
$1,966,511
Liabilities
$1,447,618

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JUSTIN LUCERO (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $120,938 total reported compensation
  • ELISA SPENCER-KAPLAN (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $119,733 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of theater latte' da is to create new connections between story, music, artist and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.

What it reported doing in 2024

General accomplishments/new workfollowing a historic transition with the departure of founding artistic director peter rothstein after 25 years, justin lucero joined theater latt da (tld) as artistic director in october 2023 and oversaw a highly successful first season planned under his leadership in fy2025.we continued to invest deeply in the creation of new music theater through our next up new work development program, an intensive laboratory to incubate new musicals and plays with music. The fy25 next up initiative, led by director of new work elissa adams, included an exciting lineup of workshops, residencies, and readings for projects by jeffrey hatcher and chan poling, by erika ji, brandon hoang collier, and clare bierman, and by candrice jones and randy preston. Tld also produced a New York city workshop and reading of a new work by 2024 next generation commission awardee jay adana. Mainstage productions & national tourin fy25, tld carried out the first season programmed by new artistic director justin lucero, reaching 36,000 patrons and drawing significant critical and audience acclaim. The season opened with the regional premiere of scotland, pa, further developed while at tld following its off-broadway premiere. Tld presented its first rodgers and hammerstein musical cinderella for the holidays, attracting a large family audience that made the production the second-best-selling show in the company's history. Following was milo cramer's charming solo show school pictures, which was honored with an obie award during its ritz theater run. In spring, the local debut of fun home played a sold-out 6-week run and drew universal critical acclaim. A rare production of stephen sondheim and james lapine's passion closed the mainstage season. Our annual next festival of new musicals also returned, providing developmental opportunities for three writing teams and sharing three new works in process including how to play the cello (until you don't), the homefront, and okuni. These productions, combined with the next up development program, together employed more than 300 actors, designers, directors, composers, lyricists, librettists, and other theatermakers. Community engagement, access & supportwe proudly carried on our educational collaborations in 2024-25 with project success, hennepin theatre trust, on stage, and other partnerships that enabled us to introduce more than 300 young people to musical theater. Over $180,000 in free and discounted tickets were distributed throughout the season to provide attendance opportunities for access target audiences including veterans, artists, students, educators, and fellow residents living in our local 55413 zip code. Tld also continued its successful row a for all initiative, offering front row tickets to select performances at a variable price point accessible to those with limited financial means. We continued to offer a full range of physical access initiatives for every production, including implementing upgraded open caption technology. Tld productions attracted patrons from more than 80% of Minnesota counties. In may 2025, tld's showstoppers: glitter groove gala played to an audience of nearly 300 patrons at the fillmore in downtown minneapolis. The evening was both a creative and a financial success, generating over $230,000 in contributions from our generous community of supporters.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.7%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.74; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.7% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $121K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.