Western Montana Creative Initiatives

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
832465407
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Missoula, MT, USA
Phone
4068685596
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Visual Arts Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$390,199
Expenses
$357,854
Assets
$141,343
Liabilities
$223

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • STONEY SAMSOE (EXECUTIVE DI): $59,523 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To strengthen the creative capacity of western Montana and foster dialogue and experiences that are culturally vibrant, healthy, and intellectually vigorous. We focus on fostering collaboration, creative placemaking, artist-community integration, and educational opportunities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Open air is a community-based initiative that offers artist residency program and free activities such as artist talks, workshops and online events to the communtiy. 23 artists participated in the residency program including, 13 Montana based artists. We facilitated four residency sessions and placed 36,000 directly into the hands of artists in 2024. 2,000+ attendees joined us for 52 free public events, including 4 art exhibitions which drew over 1,200 attendees. We worked closely with over 2 dozen community partners to support creativity and education in western Montana. Over 200+ attended our indigenous initiatives speaker series which featured indigenous atrists & leaders in 6 online presentations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% 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

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.5%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 84.5%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • 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: 8.3%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.6%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 42.1% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 32.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.3% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.5% of revenue deployed · 84.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $303K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.