Verge Center for the Arts

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272378275
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Phone
9164482985
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$999,099
Expenses
$797,032
Assets
$2,326,059
Liabilities
$1,611,434

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Chase Dougherty (Interim Executive Director)
  • Renee Carter (President)
  • Raffa Chavez (Vice President)
  • Gwenna Howard (Past President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Livia Moe (Executive Dir.): $70,671 total reported compensation
  • Chase Dougherty (Interim Executive Director): $23,289 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Verge Center for the Arts is the leading cultural institution in the Sacramento region for contemporary art and ideas. We have a mission to extend the dialogue about contemporary art to the central valley. Verge supports this mission by providing vital resources to local career and emerging artists as well as offering arts education opportunities for youth and adults.Located in Sacramento's Southside Park neighborhood, Verges building contains 32 artist studios, two expansive gallery spaces, a classroom, and a fine art printmaking facility. Through the combination of these elements Verge has created an art center model similar to those seen in other cities Davis, Richmond, Grass Valley, San Francisco offering a combination of resources to serve artistic professionals and the public.

What it reported doing in 2025

To support and encourage the development of art and artists, including but not limited to the support of contemporary art and artists in California, artist residency programs, educational programs, providing resources to artists regarding funding and exhibition opportunities, and to carry on other public and charitable activities associated with this goal. This is furthered through - 1) establishing and running an art gallery which produces high-caliber contemporary art programing for the Sacramento region in the organizations facilities 2) operation of an artist residency program providing low and no cost studio space to working artists, and 3) utilizing the organizations facilities to provide art education and reference resources including a community print lab.Recognizing the historic national framework of systemic discrimination that to this day has been part of daily life in our culture, organizations, and communities, Verge is committed to becoming a more open and welcoming organization. Historic and systemic discrimination have created barriers to inclusion, participation, and opportunity that have excluded the embracing of different ethnicities, skin colors, gender identities and body types, religious beliefs, physical or cognitive challenges, or socio-economic standing. To be part of the necessary movement to achieve meaningful, authentic, and effective changes to this culture, Verge recognizes that only a complete and comprehensive mindset by everyone associated with this organization will achieve the results and hope for broader diversity and social justice.

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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 85.6%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 20.2%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.92; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.69; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.8%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69% of revenue deployed · 85.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $683K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $71K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2011 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.