Vital Arts Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 823947930
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Berkeley, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4152280281
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts Service Organizations and Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $528,452
- Expenses
- $267,828
- Assets
- $410,383
- Liabilities
- $4,209
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Edwin Bernbaum PhD (President)
- Beth Jay (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Edwin Bernbaum PhD (President)
- Beth Jay (Vice President)
- Steve Berger (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Vital Arts envisions a world in which groundbreaking arts and culture that are essential for the continued health and vitality of society at large are recognized and cultivated. We seek to bring this about by implementing [continued on Schedule O]
What it reported doing in 2024
Organization's Mission [continued from Form 990 Page 2 Part III Line1]----------------------------------------------------------------------projects to meet the needs of low and moderate-income artists in the Bay Area.We believe that if we are successful, our efforts to preserve and support a strong innovative creative arts community can provide models and seeds that can be replicated nationally and internationally. The Ghost Ship fire in Oakland highlights the tragic human price that rising rents and housing costs, and increasingly scarce safe spaces can extract. Artists driven to create and drawn to a community of like-minded individuals should not be expected to pay an unthinkable price, nor should those who love them.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 41
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 77
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 28.7%; rating input score 29
- Program expense ratio: 56.7%; rating input score 57
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: 49.3%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.53; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 39.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 37.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.9% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 28.7% of revenue deployed · 56.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $152K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 57/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.