Vermont Council on the Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030218115
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Montpelier, VT, USA
Phone
8028283291
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Council/Agency

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,168,915
Expenses
$3,010,985
Assets
$2,037,292
Liabilities
$410,149

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUSAN EVANS MCCLURE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • SUSAN EVANS MCCLURE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $159,565 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 council's mission is to advance and preserve the arts at the center of Vermont communities. It offers grants and services including workshops, professional development opportunities and arts information, and is the state's foremost arts advocate.

What it reported doing in 2024

See schedule ocommunity arts programs provide grants and services to strengthen Vermont communities through arts and cultural activities, and to increase public awareness of the positive role played by artists and arts organizations in their communities. Grants were awarded to 85 individuals and 201 organizations in every county and 100 towns across Vermont. Public art programs included 6 animating infrastructure grants that supported projects integrating art into community infrastructure. Cultural facilities grants enabled 16 cultural organizations to make critical upgrades to existing buildings or to make public arts facilities safe, accessible, and welcoming to patrons with disabilities. Unprecedented one-time funding from the state enabled the arts council to offer the creative futures grant program for creative sector entities that sustained economic harm due to the pandemic. The Vermont creative network (vcn), a coalition of individual creatives, local and regional planners and policymakers, community development professionals, and cultural and nonprofit leaders formed in 2016, convened stakeholder meetings to advance Vermont's creative economy. The council also continued to serve as a founding partner in Vermont's first statewide emergency preparedness network for the arts and cultural sector.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 75% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 40% for direct work, and 60% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 81.1%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $56.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 78.4%; rating input score 78; 21st 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.3% of revenue deployed · 81.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $160K · 11 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 65 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 64 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.