Currently, we can only create a KIPI Dashboard for organizations with annual budgets over $50,000 that have completed the long form of the Cultural Data Profile and that have an NTEE code in the A category (A=Arts & Culture organizations). You may have completed the CDP short form or have a budget that is below the threshold, without all of the data lines needed to create a dashboard. Or, your organization's NTEE code may not be in the A category, and we do not have data for other types of nonprofits (e.g., social service organizations) so we cannot compare you to other organizations like yours. 

You will have to provide at least one fiscal year of data to DataArts in order to get your scores. Register for DataArts here.

After you've completed your survey, your KIPI scores could take up to five minutes before being available.

There are a lot of new organizations for which we now have data. When the mix of organizations changes, scores change.

Also, we updated some of our formulas to reflect what we've learned from the data over the past year. As a result, the spatial model has changed, meaning the effects of community characteristics are recalibrated. The Working Capital KIPI formula has changed so that it does a better job of examining the strength of unrestricted current assets given the organization's level of unrestricted current liabilities.

Your scores are available only to you and those you authorize to use your login. We will not share your scores or your login information. KIPI scores are there to help enable arts leaders to see where their financial and operating strengths and weaknesses lie.

Score 0 to 20 Score 21 to 40 Score 41 to 60 Score 61 to 80 Score 81 to 100

Organizations must first submit their data to DataArts via the Cultural Data Profile portal. Once you are able to access your KIPI scores, focus on the outcomes that are most important to your organization. Determine whether your organization is performing well on those measures, or whether you have room for improvement. Dashboard scores can be valuable information to share with your board, staff, funders, and other key stakeholders. They can influence strategy and help adjust financial and operational priorities.

You may be performing much higher or lower than expected on a measure. It’s all relative – relative to the rest of the field. It could be that other organizations like yours (with similar operating and community characteristics) are doing much better or worse than you thought. In early testing of the dashboard we learned that some organization leaders were relieved to find that their performance on an index was similar to that of like organizations. It was good news to share with board members who always considered the organization’s performance in that area to be poor.

After you've completed your survey, your KIPI scores could take up to five minutes before being available.

Each KIPI score shows how you did relative to the rest of the field, given who you are and where you operate. KIPIs range from 0-100, with 100 being the highest outcome an organization can achieve, based on a level playing field. A score of 60 means you performed better than 60% of organizations like yours on that index. For more information, visit the videos

Also the Support Center is available to examine your KIPI scores with you.

We promise confidentiality so no organization gets to see another organization's scores. However, your dashboard scores are already comparing you to organizations like yours – we do the comparing for you.

One of DataArts’s most frequently asked questions, with respect to the KIPI Dashboard, is "Who are you comparing me to?"

The KIPI Dashboard analyses are more sophisticated than simply culling down a small set of organizations in the same sector with similar size, organizational age, square footage, community characteristics, etc., then running averages. However, if you know your sector well, you can look at the listing of organizations in your sector and size and likely get a good sense of whom you are most alike.
See the participating organizations broken down by Sector and Size

You can re-enter your data with DataArts at any time. Just follow the link to get started.

You may not have entered your full year’s worth of data into your CDP for a given year, or you may have just entered data for a specific program instead of the entire organization. If you would like to update your data, login to your DataArts CDP.

If your Contributed Revenue KIPI scores seem like a mismatch with your contributed revenue levels relative to expenses, it could be that you started or ended a capital campaign during the trend period. Being in a capital campaign leads to much higher expectations for contributed revenue.

For organizations that either did not report their own Operating Revenue, or reported it as being the same figure as Total Unrestricted Revenue despite having non-operating revenue, we calculated Operating Revenue as Total Unrestricted Revenue less Capital Gains. For organizations that carefully reported figures for Operating Revenue and Total Unrestricted Revenue, we made no adjustments.

Yes! You are welcome to report your own scores to funders, your board, your staff, and your community. It is your story to tell to whomever you choose. We only ask that you cite that the information came from the DataArts Dashboard.

You may be performing much higher or lower than expected on a measure. It's all relative – relative to the rest of the field, that is. It could be that other organizations like yours (with similar operating and community characteristics) are doing much better or worse than you thought. In early testing of the dashboard we learned that some organization leaders were relieved to find that their performance on an index was similar to that of like organizations. It was good news to share with board members who always considered the organization's performance in that area to be poor.

A zero could mean one of six things:

1. That you scored lowest on that index relative to other organizations like yours nationally.
2. That your organization did not provide that information when you filled out the survey
3. That your response to the survey question was "0". To update your data profile at DataArts, click here.
4. If it is in the Balance Sheet section, you may have indicated that you did not have an audit for the year in question, so the data you entered was not detailed enough to provide scores. When you provide more detail on the level of funds that were unrestricted and temporarily restricted, we will update your Working Capital and Cash & Investment scores.
5. That your organization had expenses under $30,000 that year. If your organization had expenses over $30,000 in one of the trend years, we are able to provide you with a KIPI Dashboard. For years under $30,000 however, we are unable to provide KIPI's.
6. That your organization reported 0 programmatic offerings. The Dashboard assumes that if you offered no programs of any kind then you were not operating that year, so no Dashboard scores. To update your data profile at DataArts, click here.

Your KIPI will go down when your expenses go up, all else being equal. If your KIPI is down even when you see a spike in the numerator, it is because there was something else you did that year that raised the bar on expected performance. For example, your in-person attendance may have spiked one year but your Response to Marketing KIPI didn't. This could happen if you also heavily increased your marketing spend that year. When you increased your marketing spend, you increase expected in-person attendance.

If you want to improve your scores, there is knowledge available on our Resources page that can help shed light on each of the nine index areas. In addition to articles, we list consultants who can help you with expertise in each area. DataArts itself does not provide consulting services. Keep tuned in, though. Now that we know which organizations are high performers on every measure, we will begin sharing their success stories with the field.

If you feel that we placed you in the wrong sector, please contact us with the correct sector (Arts Education, Art Museums, Community, Dance, Music, Opera, Performing Art Centers, Symphony Orchestra, Theater, Other Museums, General Performing Arts, Arts Alliance and Service Organizations).

Yes, we offer a page that displays your all of your graphs on one page for easier printing.

Contributed Revenue

Contributed Revenue KIPIs are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community's characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, square footage, fixed assets, ticket price, in-person attendance, occupancy expenses, amount spent on fundraising; whether you are in a capital campaign or recently completed one, target specific ethnic or age groups, have a parent organization, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

Expense KIPIs are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, number of board members, level of local and state support, occupancy expenses, number of employees, number of subscribers or members; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, whether you are in or currently completed a capital campaign, whether you have a parent organizations, or primarily present local or national premieres.

Earned Revenue

Earned Revenue KIPIs are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community's characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, level of local and state government support, square footage, ticket price, number of programmatic offerings, marketing expenditures, program expenditures, number of members/subscribers, in-person attendance, number of website page views; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

Expense KIPIs are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, number of board members, level of local and state support, occupancy expenses, number of employees, number of subscribers or members; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, whether you are in or currently completed a capital campaign, whether you have a parent organizations, or primarily present local or national premieres.

Expenses

The Operating Revenue KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support,square footage, fundraising expenses, marketing expenses; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

Program Expense KIPIs are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, number of paid program personnel, number of full-time employees, median ticket price; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

Marketing Impact

The In-person Attendance KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, square footage, marketing expenses, number of subscribers or members, number of website page views, lowest ticket price; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

The Program Revenue KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community's characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, level of local and state government support, square footage, number of programmatic offerings, program expenditures, number of members/subscribers; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

The Total Marketing Expense (incl. personnel) KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, number of paid administrative staff, number of full-time employees, median ticket price; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

Bottom Line

The Operating Revenue KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support,square footage, fundraising expenses, marketing expenses, program expenses; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

The Total Expenses KIPI s are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, occupancy expenses, square footage, number of full-time employees, number of subscribers or members; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, have a parent organization, or primarily present local or national premieres.

Balance Sheet

The Unrestricted Current Assets KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, value of fixed assets, level of local and state support, level of unrestricted current liabilities, square footage, total earned revenue, total earned revenue, total contributed revenue; whether you were in a capital campaign, target specific ethnic or age groups, offer premieres or receive NEA or IMLS grants.

The Unrestricted Current Liabilities KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, level of local and state support, occupancy expenses, total earned revenue, total contributed reveue, total expenses; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, or receive NEA or IMLS grants.

The Cash & Equivalents KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, level of local and state support, fixed assets; whether you were in a capital campaign, target specific ethnic or age groups, or receive NEA or IMLS grants.

The Total Expenses (before depr.) KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, occupancy expenses, number of full-time employees, number of subscribers or members; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, or primarily present local or national premieres.

Community Engagement

The Engagement KIPIs are based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of in-person programmatic offerings, number of digital offerings (for total engagement), level of local and state support, square footage, marketing expenses, number of subscribers or members, number of website page views; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

There are no drivers for Population since it is outside of management's control.

Program Activity

The In-person Engagement KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of in-person programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, square footage, marketing expenses, number of subscribers or members, number of website page views; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

The Total Offerings KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, interest income, square footage, occupancy expense, working capital; whether you were in a capital campaign, target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

Staffing

The In-person Attendance KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, number of programmatic offerings, level of local and state support, square footage, marketing expenses, number of subscribers or members, number of website page views, lowest ticket price; whether you target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

The Full-time Employees KIPI is based on a level playing field that takes into account your community’s characteristics; arts/cultural sector, organizational age, budget size, value of total investments, number of programmatic offerings, occupancy expense, number of board members, highest ticket price; whether you were in a capital campaign, target specific ethnic or age groups, receive NEA or IMLS grants or primarily present local or national premieres.

We examined the data to see whether some arts and cultural disciplines hold similar enough characteristics to group them together into Sectors for purposes of our analysis. For example, should all museums be studied together or are there significant enough differences to warrant a separate look at art museums versus other museums (e.g., history, science, children's museums, etc.) in each analysis? Some sectors clustered but some stand out as unique enough to report on separately. The number of sectors and their clustering may change in future reports as we add data.

The National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) system is used by the IRS and NCCS to classify nonprofit organizations into sectors. Organizations self-report their NTEE as part of the Cultural Data Profile survey. The NCCS website gives an excellent summary description of what NTEEs are and how they came about: http://nccs.urban.org/classification/NTEE.cfm. If an organization has a parent organization, we opted for their arts sector NTEE (e.g., performing arts center) rather than their parent organization's NTEE (e.g., university), if available. “Arts and Culture” is one of the NTEE's 10 major groups of tax-exempt organizations (the “A” category), and within Arts and Culture there are 10 subcategories that contain 30 additional subdivisions.

We came up with 11 distinct categories of arts and cultural sectors.

• Arts Education: Arts Education/Schools (A25) and Performing Arts Schools (A6E)
• Art Museums: Art Museums (A51)
• Community: Arts, Cultural Organizations – Multipurpose (A20), Cultural & Ethnic Awareness (A23), Folk Arts (A24), Arts & Humanities Councils/Agencies (A26), Community Celebrations (A27), Visual Arts (A40)
• Dance: Dance (A62) and Ballet (A63)
• Music: Music (A68), Singing & Choral Groups (A6B), and Bands & Ensembles (A6C)
• Opera: Opera (A6A)
• Performing Arts Centers: Performing Arts Centers (A61)
• Symphony Orchestra: Symphony Orchestras (A69)
• Theater: Theater (A65)
• Other Museums: Museums & Museum Activities (A50), Children's Museums (A52), History Museums (A54), Natural History & Natural Science Museums (A56), and Science & Technology Museums (A57)
• General Performing Arts: Performing Arts (A60)

While we do not report separately on Arts Alliances and Services Organizations, we do provide these organizations with their own sector in the DataArts KIPI Dashboard. These are organizations with the following NTEE Codes: Alliances & Advocacy (A01), Management & Technical Assistance (A02), Professional Societies & Associations (A03), Fund Raising & Fund Distribution (A12).

One additional category -- Miscellaneous - captures all organizations that did not fit into one of the categories above. This sector includes everything from Film Festivals to Humanities and Historical Organizations.

Size matters. We would expect that small organizations face different pressures or challenges than medium-sized organizations, which in turn perform differently than large organizations.

Rather than prescribe arbitrary cut-off points for assigning organizations into small, medium, and large categories based on their total expenditures, we turned to the data to tell us the point in each sector at which performance outcomes differ depending on the organization's budget size – i.e., where the performance change point lies. To tease this information out of the data, we analyzed unrestricted contributed revenue, total program expenses, and total in-person attendance. It turns out that arts and cultural sectors have different change points. With the addition of new data and new organizations over time, these change points may shift in future reports. Here are the budget ranges of small, medium and large, defined for – and by – organizations in each arts and cultural sector in our dataset:

The Dashboard lets you know how your organization is doing relative to the rest of the field – where your strengths lie and where you have room for improvement. There are nine categories of indices, each measuring areas related to financial and operational health, but not mission. For each of the nine indices, we provide your Dashboard, or “KIPI”, scores over time as well as your organization’s self-reported data that factored into the scoring.

You decide which dashboard scores are most important given your organization's priorities, and whether you are where you'd like to be. Scoring high may indicate that you are achieving your objectives, or you may want a low score on some KIPIs given your priorities (e.g., you strive for accessibility, not program revenue).

A KIPI is the mojo that sets a high performing organization apart from others. Intangible aspects like good decision-making, artistic and managerial expertise, reputation and relationships, intellectual capital, and the quality of the work force all influence an organization’s performance. We call them KIPIs, or Key Intangible Performance Indicators. Because these traits are, by nature, intangible, we cannot easily observe and measure them. And yet we all know how important they are. By using a statistical technique that we call “high performance frontier analysis,” we can estimate how much these intangibles play a role in setting an organization apart from others. This is a method that has helped many other industries understand high performance and the best practices that drive it.

We start by creating a level playing field, much like you see in golf, where the tees are staggered to give men, women, and seniors a more equal chance at achieving the same score. For arts and cultural organizations, we adjust the playing field for numerous organizational characteristics, like budget size and age, since we know that older and larger organizations tend to have higher performance on many performance measures. The organization’s community plays a role, too, so we adjust the starting point for those characteristics, too.

DataArts's organizational data is provided through our partners: DataArts (formerly the Cultural Data Project), Theatre Communications Group, and the League of American Orchestras as well as from the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Community data comes from the Census Bureau, state funding data is provided by the National Association of State Arts Agencies, and our federal funding data is from the National Endowment for the Arts and Institute of Museum and Library Services. We link arts organizations to the government funding and census bureau data for their local community to better understand their sense of place. For a more detailed explanation, visit Modeling the Arts & Culture ecosystem.

You may find which specific CDP lines were used for each KIPI Score in the Methodology-Our Formula section of each area of the DataArts Report.

• Contributed Revenue
• Earned Revenue
• Expenses
• Marketing Impact
• Bottom Line
• Balance Sheet
• Community Engagement
• Program Activity
• Staffing