United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 560770175
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Raleigh, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9198391498
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Council/Agency
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,905,497
- Expenses
- $2,004,579
- Assets
- $1,200,087
- Liabilities
- $137,345
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JENNIFER MCEWEN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER MCEWEN (PRESIDENT): $121,916 total reported compensation
- CINDY BOTTS (VP OF FINANC): $48,704 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 united arts council of raleigh and wake county, inc. Builds better communities through support and advocacy of the arts. The organization strives to (1) champion arts education; (2) serve a larger metropolitan area with emerging population centers in wake county, nc; and (3) build capacity for the local arts community. Since 1990, it has served as the umbrella fundraising organization for the arts in wake county. To accomplish this mission, the orgnization raises money from businesses, indviduals, foundations and government sources. Funds are re-distributed to the community through grants to schools, wake municipalities, artists and arts organizations - all in support of arts programming.
What it reported doing in 2024
Arts education: the council's arts education program supports performances, workshops, residencies, field trips, and professional development for students and educators in wake county k-12 schools. For the year ended june 30, 2025, the council supported more than 460 programs by professional teaching artists, 14 field trips, five eight-week internships, and 18 hours of arts integration workshops for teachers across 155 schools.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 61% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 76% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 88
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 92.1%; rating input score 92; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.2%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.5%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $122K · 20 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 35 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 33 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.