Whippoorwill Arts Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
870962408
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
El Cerrito, CA, USA
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Folk Arts

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$437,984
Expenses
$437,751
Assets
$52,997
Liabilities
$12,599

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Jacquelyn Marushka (Board Member)
  • Fabiola Mendez (Board Member)
  • Hilary Perkins (Board Chair)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Whippoorwill Arts is on a mission to provide opportunities for roots musicians and artists to thrive and nurture their creativity with a focus on live performances, collaboration, fair wages, equity, and social justice.

What it reported doing in 2025

Fellowship: Whippoorwill Art's Fellowships nurture the extraordinary talent, community spirit, and creative soul of exceptional roots musicians. For 2024-25, musicians Gaelynn Lea, Abel Rocha, Angie K, and Jerron Blind Boy Paxton each received a $25,000 grant to design and complete an independent project of their own choosing. The fellowship culminated in four projects - Macbeth Album Production and UK Tour; Developing Music Traditions of Son Jarocho & Son Huasteco; Album Release and Golden Music Video; and Building Black American Banjos.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.

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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $26.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: 0.1%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.12; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -16% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $372K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.