Entertainment Community Fund
Entertainment Community Fund
EIN: 13-1635251
Mission
Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) fosters stability and resiliency, and provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan.
Ruling year
1940
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Joseph Benincasa
Main address
729 Seventh Ave 10th Floor
New York, NY 10019 USA
EIN
13-1635251
Arts services
Artists' services
Performing arts
Human services
Population served
Adults
Seniors
Homeless people
Artists and performers
NTEE code
Arts Service Activities/Organizations (A90)
Human Service Organizations (P20)
IRS subsection
501(c)(3) Public Charity
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Tax forms
Communication
Affiliations
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reportsWhat we aim to solve
Seasonal and episodic work results in underemployment, low wages and a lack of health insurance for performing arts and entertainment professionals. A work related injury or illness can completely derail a career and source of income. An interruption of work because of illness or injury may result in lost wages, rent arrears, credit problems and other financial issues. The Actors Fund's programs and services have been developed to address these needs.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
The Career Center
A program providing job counseling, workshops and training to help entertainment professionals obtain meaningful sideline or parallel employment to supplement their careers or support them in transitioning into new professions.
The Actors Fund Home
A 124-bed assisted-living and nursing home located in Englewood, New Jersey, for senior/disabled individuals with ties to the entertainment and performing arts community. The Home will be expanded to 169 beds by the end of 2018, with new sub-acute and memory care units.
Affordable and Supportive Housing
The Actors Fund provides affordable, supportive homes for 189 low-income performing arts professionals and others with special needs in midtown Manhattan, and 216 affordable and supportive apartments for low-income performing arts professionals and formerly homeless individuals in Downtown Brooklyn.
Social Services
The Actors Fund Social Services offer comprehensive programs designed to meet the unique needs of entertainment professionals. Social workers provide crisis intervention, individual and family needs assessments, and develop long-term plans include ongoing support, education, information and referrals. In addition, financial assistance can be provided for essential living expenses such as rent, utilities or medical costs.
Health Services
The Actors Fund provides expert counseling on obtaining affordable health insurance in all 50 states, as well as enrollment services in New York and California. The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts provides health services for entertainment professionals in the heart of Times Square.
Where we work
Awards
Tony Honors for Excellence 2024
American Theatre Wing
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
1. Provide human services and emergency financial assistance to performing arts and entertainment professionals across the country who are facing a crisis or need.
2. Respond to increasing demand for services by scaling programs to reach a larger number of industry professionals across the country.
3. Continue to evolve our health services to adapt to the changing health care environment
4. Develop more affordable housing opportunities for artists and arts workers
5. Advance fundraising to meet goals
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Increase human services and emergency financial assistance
--Hire additional social workers to provide case management and crisis intervention services
Increase fundraising to raise more funds for emergency financial assistance
2. Respond to increasing demand for services by scaling our services and bringing programs to creative communities across the country.
--Increase services in the Central Region
--Develop Programs To Go
--Develop remote workshop and seminar opportunities
3. Evolve our health care services to adapt to the changing health care environment
--Secure funding to help individuals and arts organizations access health insurance under Affordable Care Act
--Stay abreast of changes to the health care landscape and communicate changes to our clients
4. Develop more affordable housing opportunities for artists and arts workers
-- Develop at least 100 new units of affordable artist housing in LA and/or NYC
--Expand training and education services to help arts workers identify and successfully apply for affordable housing opportunities
--Actively work in communities with large arts populations to create new opportunities to support artist housing
5. Advance fundraising
--Increase contributions by 25% by 2021
--Conduct capital campaign feasibility study for expansion of nursing home and assisted living facility
--Identify prospects who may support affordable housing development
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
1. The Actors Fund already has a strong foundation of human services. Our human services programs are staffed by licensed social workers who provide assessment, advocacy, access to entitlements, financial management and assistance and referrals for entertainment industry professionals.
2. The Actors Fund currently employs a staff of more than 200 in its NYC, LA and Chicago offices. Our program staff of licensed social workers and our administrative staff of talented professionals work towards shared annual goals to meet agency objectives, and are evaluated annually as part of our performance management system.
3. The Actors Fund currently operates the national Artists Health Insurance Resource Center and the New York City-based Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. With health care and insurance professionals on our Board and staff, The Actors Fund is well-positioned to adapt its health services to today's changing environment.
4. The Actors Fund currently operates 3 affordable housing residences in New York City, Brooklyn and Los Angeles with a combined 460 affordable units, with plans for a new development in Los Angeles. We have demonstrated experience identifying, securing financing, developing and managing affordable housing residences.
5. The Actors Fund employs a fundraising staff of 18 and has a strong foundation of individual, corporate and foundation donors, robust membership and special event programs, and a well-established planned giving program. We are well positioned for growth in this area.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
1. Increase services for seniors: We expanded our Senior Care program in 2015 by adding two additional social workers and we are now providing case management services to elderly and infirm seniors. We also launched a new volunteer and activities program to harness the energies of active seniors to provide assistance to seniors who are housebound, and program a variety of activities to improve the social, mental and physical wellbeing of seniors in New York City's Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea communities.
2. Respond to increasing demand for services by enlisting more staff and expanding programs: We have added 5 new staff members in 2015.
3. Evolve our health care services to adapt to the changing health care environment: We are educating individuals and small arts organizations in New York and California and across the United States about the Affordable Care Act, and we are enrolling individuals in new plans in New York and California. We are about to implement a plan to transition our health clinic to work within the new health care environment.
4. Develop more affordable housing opportunities for artists and arts workers: We have partnered with private and public organizations to develop affordable artist housing in Los Angeles and New York and are working on securing sites.
5. Advance fundraising: We are identifying new opportunities to increase contributions in all areas and actively pursuing them.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2022 info
0.93
Months of cash in 2022 info
7.1
Fringe rate in 2022 info
31%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
Entertainment Community Fund
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
This snapshot of Entertainment Community Fund’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
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Business model indicators
| Profitability info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | $5,631,682 | -$1,907,173 | $24,470,211 | $12,110,715 | $1,165,030 |
| As % of expenses | 15.6% | -4.6% | 41.2% | 25.5% | 2.3% |
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | $3,758,349 | -$4,023,870 | $22,103,770 | $9,712,908 | -$1,296,205 |
| As % of expenses | 9.9% | -9.3% | 35.8% | 19.5% | -2.5% |
| Revenue composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $36,036,341 | $38,505,624 | $87,206,491 | $61,544,838 | $55,601,567 |
| Total revenue, % change over prior year | -2.2% | 6.9% | 126.5% | -29.4% | -9.7% |
| Program services revenue | 40.4% | 45.0% | 21.6% | 30.0% | 36.5% |
| Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Investment income | 2.3% | 2.1% | 0.8% | 1.3% | 2.8% |
| Government grants | 4.6% | 5.2% | 2.9% | 10.5% | 3.1% |
| All other grants and contributions | 52.2% | 46.4% | 75.4% | 56.2% | 58.5% |
| Other revenue | 0.5% | 1.3% | -0.6% | 1.9% | -0.9% |
| Expense composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses before depreciation | $36,162,916 | $41,090,276 | $59,347,967 | $47,403,721 | $49,780,682 |
| Total expenses, % change over prior year | 9.6% | 13.6% | 44.4% | -20.1% | 5.0% |
| Personnel | 60.9% | 59.3% | 42.3% | 54.0% | 56.5% |
| Professional fees | 7.7% | 8.7% | 6.0% | 8.5% | 11.3% |
| Occupancy | 8.6% | 8.5% | 5.7% | 7.2% | 7.1% |
| Interest | 0.4% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 1.1% | 1.7% |
| Pass-through | 8.2% | 7.3% | 34.0% | 17.1% | 10.5% |
| All other expenses | 14.2% | 14.8% | 11.0% | 12.0% | 12.9% |
| Full cost components (estimated) info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses (after depreciation) | $38,036,249 | $43,206,973 | $61,714,408 | $49,801,528 | $52,241,917 |
| One month of savings | $3,013,576 | $3,424,190 | $4,945,664 | $3,950,310 | $4,148,390 |
| Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 | $1,743,145 | $761,295 | $0 |
| Fixed asset additions | $8,946,034 | $3,445,949 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total full costs (estimated) | $49,995,859 | $50,077,112 | $68,403,217 | $54,513,133 | $56,390,307 |
Capital structure indicators
| Liquidity info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Months of cash | 2.9 | 1.3 | 6.8 | 8.8 | 7.1 |
| Months of cash and investments | 20.4 | 17.2 | 17.9 | 23.9 | 20.3 |
| Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | 7.7 | 5.3 | 8.1 | 12.6 | 12.0 |
| Balance sheet composition info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $8,668,656 | $4,476,276 | $33,493,151 | $34,594,126 | $29,292,502 |
| Investments | $52,720,041 | $54,427,693 | $55,176,467 | $59,871,864 | $54,841,543 |
| Receivables | $4,267,281 | $3,164,995 | $6,973,685 | $8,012,814 | $25,706,131 |
| Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $61,717,844 | $64,948,781 | $65,579,996 | $67,132,446 | $67,360,122 |
| Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 33.3% | 34.6% | 37.6% | 40.0% | 43.2% |
| Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 42.8% | 42.5% | 37.2% | 30.1% | 38.3% |
| Unrestricted net assets | $39,615,738 | $35,591,868 | $57,695,638 | $67,408,546 | $66,112,341 |
| Temporarily restricted net assets | $3,486,628 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Permanently restricted net assets | $19,836,870 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total restricted net assets | $23,323,498 | $26,271,682 | $29,926,541 | $36,075,825 | $36,437,091 |
| Total net assets | $62,939,236 | $61,863,550 | $87,622,179 | $103,484,371 | $102,549,432 |
Key data checks
| Key data checks info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Joseph Benincasa
Mr. Benincasa joined The Actors Fund in 1988. He oversees innovative programs including comprehensive social services, health care services, employment and affordable, supportive and senior housing. He serves on the boards of directors of several organizations including Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Human Services Council and others. He has been recognized with several honors, including the inaugural Made in New York Award, presented by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Brooklyn's Italian of the Year. He served as chair of the NY Society of Association Executives in 2007, has lectured on not-for-profit management at Duke University and the New School, and served on the Tony Administration and Nominating Committees, and on the Board of Directors of St. Peter's University Medical Center. In 2011 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Centenary College and served on the New York State Attorney General's Leadership Committee for Nonprofit Revitalization.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
Entertainment Community Fund
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
Entertainment Community Fund
Highest paid employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
Entertainment Community Fund
Board of directorsas of 06/02/2024
Board of directors data
Mr Brian Stokes Mitchell
Actor
Term: 1998 -
Philip J Smith
The Shubert Organization
Lee Perlman
Greater New York Hospital Association
Marc Grodman
Bio Reference Laboratories
Abby Schroeder
A Schroeder International
Tom Viola
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Mark Hostetter
Financial Consultant
Annette Bening
Actor
Teresa Eyring
Theatre Communications Group
Andrew Flatt
Disney Theatrical Productions
David Goodman
Writers Guild of America
Heather Hitchens
American Theatre Wing
Sharon Karmazin
Theatrical Producer
Chris Keyser
Writers Guild of America, West
Stewart L Lane
Stewart Lane Productions
Paul Libin
Jujamcyn Theaters
Matthew Loeb
IATSE International
Mary McColl
Actors' Equity
James Nederlander
Nederlander Productions
Ruth Nerken
Jean and Albert Nerken Foundations
Stanley Newman
Philanthropist
David Rambo
Playwright/Screenwriter/Producer
Charlotte St. Martin
The Broadway League
Kate Shindle
Actors Equity Association
Robert Wankel
The Shubert Organization
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Contractors
Fiscal year endingProfessional fundraisers
Fiscal year endingSOURCE: IRS Form 990 Schedule G
Solicitation activities
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