Theatre Nova

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471762735
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone
7346358450
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Performing Arts Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$278,720
Expenses
$294,344
Assets
$30,047
Liabilities
$38,564

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Carla Milarch (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Carla Milarch (President): $27,206 total reported compensation
  • Philip Powers (Secretary): $6,250 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Theatre NOVA is dedicated to raising awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and new playwrights in a diverse and expanding audience: and providing resources and outlets for playwrights to develop their craft, by importing, exporting, and developing new plays and playwrights.

What it reported doing in 2025

Produced 6 in-house productions. Kairos by Lisa Sanaye Dring was performed 17 times with an combined audience of 377, Eclipsed: The Sun, the Moon and Gladys Atkinson Sweet by D.L. Patrick, was performed 20 times with a combined audience of 892, Jorge Luis Borges Gives a Lecture On Anatomy, a play with music by Carla Milarch was performed 16 times with a combined audience of 525, Radical Empathy by David Wells a World Premiere was performed 16 times with a combined audience of 561, Dry Summer by Robert Axelrod was performed 16 times with a combined audience of 1065, DJ Whittington's Kool Kat: A Hip-Hop Panto by Carla Milarch and R. MacKenzie Lewis was performed 16 times with a combined audience of 528.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 69% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95.3%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -5.6%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.1; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.28; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.4%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -43.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $280K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $27K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.