Visual Arts Center of New Jersey

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
226046896
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Summit, NJ, USA
Phone
9082739121
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,441,461
Expenses
$2,936,993
Assets
$13,175,809
Liabilities
$1,993,116

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Melanie Cohn (Executive Dir.): $185,642 total reported compensation
  • Rudolph S Maico (Finance Dir.): $51,461 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 visual arts center of New Jersey nurtures the capacity for personal expression, expands the creative experience and fosters stronger communities by empowering people to see, make and learn about art. Through exhibition, studio school and community programs, the art center engenders connection, curiosity and creative risk-taking among its constituents.

What it reported doing in 2024

The visual arts center of New Jersey's community engagement programs are closely aligned with our mission of bringing art and people together and our committment to making art accessible to all audiences. These programs serve over 1,000 individuals annually, making educational visual arts experiences available to under served, economically disadvantaged, and marginalized audiences. These audiences include at-risk youth, the elderly, people with disabilities, children from dual working parent households, and low income households. We serve the community of summit and surrounding areas including people living in hudson, union, essex, sussex and somerset counties. Programs include providing arts education for formerly homeless women attending kenmore high school in jersey city; "arts alive" a program for elizabeth high school and 8th grade students from throughout the elizabeth district; and the arts from the heart partnership with sage elder-care for people suffering from dementia or alzheimer's.

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

SUPPORTED - 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.6%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.7%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.49; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.6% of revenue deployed · 71% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $186K · 26 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.