Ventura Music Festival Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770314562
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Ventura, CA, USA
Phone
8056483146
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking Foundations N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$423,602
Expenses
$905,433
Assets
$2,987,619
Liabilities
$51,625

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • LALE WELSH (EXECUTIVE DI): $115,000 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 ventura music festival (vmf) presents and produces live musical performances that inspire, educate, and entertain. Vmf is dedicated to providing music educaton to schools k-12 and promotes cultural diversity, artistic growth, and meaningful connections through the unifying power of music.

What it reported doing in 2024

The ventura festival stands as one of the county's signature events, attracting upwards of 6,000 concertgoers during two weekends of july. The festival presents the finest musicians performing the world's greatest music at several venues and encourages a personal relationship between the audience and performers.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 78.5%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th 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: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -113.7%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.3; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.7%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $711K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.