Young Storytellers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
550827731
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3239624500
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Child Matching Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,706,890
Expenses
$1,693,854
Assets
$1,294,575
Liabilities
$40,662

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WILLIAM THOMPSON (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • WILLIAM THOMPSON (PRESIDENT): $150,218 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 develop literacy through the art of storytelling. To help under-served children in the public school system to discover the power of their own voice by providing opportunities for them to write stories and see them brought to life through performance.

What it reported doing in 2024

Young storytellers is an arts non-profit that empowers authentic, essential new voices and changes what's possible. Our programs provide the guidance and support to explore, discover, and express one's own unique story, and a stage for sharing it with others. Young storytellers elevates young voices, made of their distinct background, culture, race, gender, sexuality, ability, and immigration and economic status, to bring powerful new perspectives into our communities and society.young storytellers completed two semesters, totaling 115 sessions of its youth development programs during 2024. Young storytellers coordinated and administered their programs successfully in over 70 public elementary, middle, and high schools across los angeles county. All programs were provided in person during spring 2024 and fall 2024 sessions. Approximately 4,000 children participated as storytellers in our in-school programs which include our flagship script to stage program, collaborative script to stage program, middle school stories program, high school stories program, and wbd story lab in partnership with warner bros. Discovery, dc comics, and lausd. Young storytellers also created and produced original curriculum for at&t's the achievery, a free digital learning platform for students and teachers nationwide.approximately 380 volunteer mentors participated in young storytellers programs during 2024 and these mentors volunteered over 4,940 hours of their time. In addition, approximately 259 actors volunteered at in-school big shows, as performers of the student's stories, donating an additional 777 hours of their time.during 2024, young storytellers published multiple handbooks and workbooks based on each of their program offerings. These were distributed to the local communities across los angeles served by the young storytellers programs. Young storytellers also created and published a tool-kit for the script to stage program with online handbooks and training videos for use outside of los angeles.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.2%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.8%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.9%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.2% of revenue deployed · 85.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $150K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.