Walnut Street Theatre Corporation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
231715152
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2021
Location
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone
2155743550
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,636,319
Expenses
$16,006,069
Assets
$32,816,546
Liabilities
$5,765,504

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BERNARD HAVARD (PRESIDENT & PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIR)

Highest reported compensation

  • BERNARD HAVARD (PRESIDENT & PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIR): $841,556 total reported compensation
  • MARK SYLVESTER (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $544,426 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN RAPP (DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & PR): $338,435 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 mission of walnut street theatre company is to sustain the tradition of professional theatre and contribute to its future viability and vitality.it does so through:- the production and presentation of professional theatre;- the encouragement, training and development of artists;- the cultivation of diverse audiences and the preservation and chronicling of its theatre building, a national historic landmark

What it reported doing in 2024

Theatre school: during the 2024-2025 season, our theatre school worked with 68 teaching artists and 1,238 students. Camp walnut produced six divisions for 128 students with 11 teaching artists. Camp held 12 live performances for friends and family. Touring outreach served 41 districts, 124 schools, 239 performances and 59,391 students. The adopt-a-school program served five philadelphia schools this past year. Through this initiative, five of our wst teaching artists taught 2,247 students. Our residency program had 17 wst teaching artists serving 25 schools and reaching 1,238 total students. Walnut street theatre kids series had 38 students from walnut street theatre school, and eight artistic staff mounted fully staged adaptations of a christmas carol and aladdan jr. These two kids series shows, along with student groups attending our mainstage production of a christmas story, welcomed 37,567 students over the course of the academic year to our mainstage. Disney musicals in schools had four wst teaching artists and the wst educational staff served two schools, and 71 students were able to participate in the disney musical in schools program. 83 scholarships were awarded to deserving students for our theatre school program in 2025. Our professional apprentice program provided training for 23 students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 64% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 97
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.9%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 75.9%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.02 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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: 95%; rating input score 95; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: 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: 14.1%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.05; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.9% of revenue deployed · 75.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 20 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $12.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $842K · 27 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.5M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.