Urban -15 Group

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742334966
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone
2107361500
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$772,902
Expenses
$647,488
Assets
$1,372,859
Liabilities
$241,049

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRISTINE TOVAR (President)
  • Sara Vasquez Lucy (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • GEORGE CISNEROS (MUSIC & MEDIA DIRECTOR): $42,942 total reported compensation
  • CATHERINE CISNEROS (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $36,600 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

URBAN-15. We cultivate talent, inspire imagination, and bring joy to our community through Music, Movement, and Media.Our programs create:* Art that merges Traditional Latino Culture, Contemporary Aesthetics and Creative Technologies* Educational programs that develop skills and imagination, * Life-long participation in artistic exploration for both artists and the community.We are transforming our community through a philosophy of inclusion that breaks prejudicial barriers of size, age, gender, class, religion, ethnicity, race; targeting economic and social disparity; Revolutionizing access to Music, Movement, Media.

What it reported doing in 2025

URBAN-15s CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTSIn 2003, URBAN-15 purchased a property at 2500 S. Presa. This site consists of a three-building, 22,777 sq. ft. Complex that includes a red brick church, a two-story dormitory, and a one-story structure with an enclosed garden. This is now the permanent home of the URBAN-15 Group, as it transforms the campus into the Center for Celebration Arts, to include a 100-seat auditorium a rehearsal, studio spaces, classrooms and internet broadcast studio as well as a licensed industrial kitchen. With its diversity of programs and projects, URBAN-15 remains committed to a broad vision of arts creation and mentoring into the future. Some of these ongoing programs and projects include: CARNAVAL DE SAN ANTO: Now in its 41th year, CDSA is our multi-generational, award winning drum and dance ensemble. With dancers and musicians of all ages, all sizes, and all abilities, CDSA has revolutionized community access to music and dance. Their major performances include Fiesta Parades. UTOPIAN PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE: The touring wing of CDSA, often used as cultural ambassadors for our beautiful city. This ensemble officially represented San Antonio at the presidential inaugurations of Obama, Bush, and Clinton; on tours of Mexico via the US State Department and in the annual Carnaval de los Muertos Procession. The audiences of their performances number in the millions through live and television appearances. THE CULTIVATION PROJECT: YOUTH: A free, year-round Music, Media, and Movement program with artists in the schools, events in our studio and major citywide concerts. Programs include the annual.Holiday Laser Show, which has served over 7,000 children from schools and community centers in and around San Antonio. Josiah Youth Media Festival celebrating its 17th year as one of the longest running international youth media festivals. Good things happen when good seeds are planted. We are planting seeds that cultivate the quality of life.INTERNET STREAMING VIDEO LAB: A real-time internet video streaming studio for broadcasting performances and classes. Free in U-15 Studio with live audience and Internet Live Streamed Broadcast. Productions include theHidden Histories an eMagazine web series that preserves the untold stories, which make San Antonio a cultural treasure highlighting the rich heritage of the past 300 years of its existence and provide a vision for the future MEDIA FESTIVALS AND WORKSHOPS: Screenings of local to international media productions, including the annual Manhattan Short Film Festival, as well as workshops which provide professional and community technical assistance.

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.
  • 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.2%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 90.8%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16.2%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.12; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.3%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.2% of revenue deployed · 90.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $588K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $43K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.