The Chattery

Tax-deductible

Chattanooga, TN501(c)(3)Community DevelopmentEIN 47-3709953Revenue $355K in FY2024

On file with the IRSthechattery.org1800 Rossville Ave Ste 108, 37408-1929 · Chattanooga, TNTax-exempt since Apr 2015Publicly supported charity — 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)

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Classes & Events dedicated to Adult Education: The Chattery provides fun affordable and accessible learning experiences for adults throughout Chattanooga TN.

501(c)(3) charity; gifts are tax-deductible.
86¢ of each $1 spent went to programs.
Run by 42 volunteers and 2 employees.
Mission: Form 990 Part I, line 1 · Status: IRS Pub. 78 · Programs: Part IX · People: Part I, lines 5–6

Before you give

FY2024 · Form 990Independent: from IRS data, not the org
Download 990
IRS status
501(c)(3)
not on the IRS revocation list
Looks good: listed by the IRS and not on the revocation list.
IRS BMF · Auto-Revocation List
Tax-deductible gifts
Yes
Donations are tax-deductible
Looks good: the IRS lists gifts to it as deductible.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS BMF
Latest return
FY2024
latest Form 990
Looks good: the latest return is for FY2024, 2 tax years back; within 2 tax years.
IRS e-file · Filing history
Surplus or deficit
2 of 3
filings with a surplus
Average surplus $21K a year · 7% of revenue · last 3 filings
Fine: a surplus in 2 of the last 3 filings.
Pt I · Ln 19 · 3 filings
Spent on programs
86%
of spending
Looks good: 86% of spending went to programs; 75% or more.
Pt IX · Ln 25 · col B
Pay to officers and key staff
$108K
to officers and key staff · 39% of spending
Top officer’s pay lower than 68% of similar orgs
Concern: pay to officers and key staff is 39% of spending; over 30%.
Pt VII · Sec A
Cash reserves
3 mo
of spending, in cash
Looks good: 3.3 months of spending in cash; 3 or more.
Pt X · Ln 1–2 · Pt I · Ln 18
Named funders
1
named funder · $15K
Fine: 1 funder names it on their filings; under 3.
Funders’ Sch. I, 990-PF
Liabilities
$3K
4% of total assets
Looks good: liabilities are 4% of assets; 50% or less.
Pt X · Ln 26
Independent board members
10
of 10 voting members
Looks good: 10 of 10 voting members are independent, a majority.
Pt VI · Ln 1a–1b
Looks goodFineWorth a lookConcernNo data yetTap a box for the reason.
Revenue
$355K
+24% vs prior year
Spent
$279K
To programs
86%
Net assets
$74K
By yearFY2021–FY2024
Revenue
$355K
FY2024▲ +24%
Tap a bar for its year
Revenue by fiscal year
FY2021$170K
FY2022$257K
FY2023$286K
FY2024$355K
Expenses
$279K
FY2024▲ +3%
Tap a bar for its year
Expenses by fiscal year
FY2021Not on file
FY2022$286K
FY2023$271K
FY2024$279K
Net assets
$74K
FY2024▲ ×37
Tap a bar for its year
Net assets by fiscal year
FY2021$11K
FY2022−$18K
FY2023−$2K
FY2024$74K

From the FY2024 Form 990 · see the original

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Is it real?

Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2024. IRS ruling in Apr 2015.

IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File

Where the money goes

86 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.

Program services 86% · $238K Management & general 8% · $22K Fundraising 6% · $18K

Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.

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Who runs it and what they're paid

12 people listed on the 990; $108K paid to officers and key staff.

Part VII, Section A · reportable compensation
Operations Director
$53,916Pt VII · Sec A
Executive Director
$53,916Pt VII · Sec A
$300Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A
Secretary
$0Pt VII · Sec A
Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A

Shawanda Mason’s $54K as Executive Director is at the 32nd percentile of top reported officer pay among 1709 $100K–1M community development nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.

Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 5 named individuals · Part VII

NameFY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Shawanda Mason$53,916$45,000$45,000$45,000
Jennifer Holder$53,916$45,000$45,000$45,000
Sarah Marquez Berestecky——$1,500—
Natalie Blanton$300———
Dory Cooper———$162

Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.

See The Chattery executive salaries →

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Questions the 990 asks

The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.

  • Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
  • Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aNo

Programs and updates

Offers fun, affordable adult education classes and events in Chattanooga, TN.

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Provided by the organization

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3 programs · $219K · in their own filed words · FY2024
01

Classes and events for adults on arts and crafts personal and professional development health and wellness and food and beverage. In 2024 The Chattery held 446 classes with 4,134 students. As part of our classes and events we offered 45 free and low cost classes to older adults 60+ and sold recorded classes online as well.

$217Kprogram expense
02

The Great Adult Egg Hunt a yearly celebration that combines the arts community collaboration and of course education. Through a creative partnership local artists will create one-of-a-kind works of art on an evergreen wooden egg and adult participants will search for the eggs at Sculpture Fields.

$2Kprogram expense
03

The Chattery offers gift cards for classes. These are purchased by individuals and businesses as an employee or program incentive. This contributes to our program income as they are used later to redeem for classes.

$335program expense

Funders

Who pays for it.

From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.

Grants

Schedule I · funders on record
Grants received · FY2025
Total grants receivedfrom 1 funder$15K

By the numbers

The FY2024 990, line by line.

1The main four
Money inPt VIII
$355K
Ln 12
Gifts and grantsLn 1h$212K
Fees for servicesLn 2g$116K
Other incomeLn 4–11$27K
Money outPt IX
$279K
Ln 25
Programscol B$238K
Managementcol C$22K
Fundraisingcol D$18K
Owns and owesPt X
$74K
net assets · Ln 32
Cash and savingsLn 1–2$77K
Total assetsLn 16$77K
LiabilitiesLn 26$3K
PeoplePt VI, VII
12
listed · VII A
PaidVII A3
Voting boardVI 1a10
IndependentVI 1b10
2In more detail
Revenue in detailPt VIII
Gifts and grantsLn 1h$212K
Government grantsLn 1e$0
Noncash giftsLn 1g$0
Fundraising eventsLn 1c$0
Fees for servicesLn 2g$116K
Other incomeLn 4–11$27K
Gains on assetsLn 7$0
Total revenueLn 12$355K
Assets in detailPt X, end of year
CashLn 1$33K
SavingsLn 2$45K
Cash and savings togetherLn 1–2$77K
InvestmentsLn 11–13$0
Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c$0
Other assetsLn 15−$346
Total assetsLn 16$77K
LiabilitiesLn 26$3K
Net assetsLn 32$74K
OperationsPt I, VI
EmployeesI 52
VolunteersI 642
Fiscal year endsHeaderDecember
Conflict-of-interest policyVI 12aYes
Whistleblower policyVI 13Yes
Records policyVI 14Yes
3Year over year
Balance sheet, start vs end of yearPt X · col A, B
LineStart FY24End FY24
Cash and savingsLn 1–2$16K$77K
InvestmentsLn 11–13$0$0
Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c$0$0
Total assetsLn 16$15K$77K
LiabilitiesLn 26$17K$3K
Net assetsLn 32−$2K$74K
4Every line
Statement of functional expensesPt IX · every line
LineTotalProgramsManagementFundraising
Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1$0$0
Grants to domestic individualsLn 2$0$0
Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3$0$0
Benefits paid to or for membersLn 4$0$0
Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5$108K$86K$11K$11K
Pay of disqualified personsLn 6$0$0$0$0
Other salaries and wagesLn 7$0$0$0$0
Pension plan contributionsLn 8$0$0$0$0
Other employee benefitsLn 9$0$0$0$0
Payroll taxesLn 10$8K$7K$829$829
Management feesLn 11a$0$0$0$0
Legal feesLn 11b$0$0$0$0
Accounting feesLn 11c$0$0$0$0
Lobbying feesLn 11d$0$0$0$0
Professional fundraising feesLn 11e$0$0
Investment management feesLn 11f$0$0$0$0
Other fees for servicesLn 11g$83K$81K$385$2K
Advertising and promotionLn 12$2K$1K$506$433
Office expensesLn 13$8K$5K$3K$302
Information technologyLn 14$14K$4K$6K$4K
RoyaltiesLn 15$0$0$0$0
OccupancyLn 16$34K$34K$0$0
TravelLn 17$0$0$0$0
Travel and entertainment for public officialsLn 18$0$0$0$0
Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19$0$0$0$0
InterestLn 20$0$0$1K$0
Payments to affiliatesLn 21$0$0$0$0
Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22$0$0$0$0
InsuranceLn 23$4K$4K$0$0
Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24$15K$15K$0$100
All other expensesLn 24e$2K$528$0$0
Total functional expensesLn 25$279K$238K$22K$18K

Filing history

YearMoney inMoney outIn minus outNet assetsDownload
FY2024 Latest Viewing $355K$279K$76K$74K 990 PDF
FY2023 $286K$271K$16K−$2K 990 PDF
FY2022 $257K$286K−$29K−$18K 990 PDF
FY2021 $170K$11K 990 PDF

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Schedules filed Part IV

III · Programs I · Grants R · Related orgs G · Fundraising L · Interested persons A · Public support F · Foreign M · Noncash
See the full FY2024 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $355,166 revenue, 12 lines filed
I-8 Contributions and grantsPrior year $142,462$212,353
I-9 Program service revenuePrior year $134,536$115,691
I-10 Investment incomePrior year $0$0
I-11 Other revenuePrior year $9,496$27,122
I-12 Total revenuePrior year $286,494$355,166
I-13 Grants and similar amounts paidPrior year $0$0
I-14 Benefits paid to membersPrior year $0$0
I-15 Salaries and benefitsPrior year $97,169$116,127
I-16a Professional fundraising feesPrior year $0$0
I-17 Other expensesPrior year $173,458$162,547
I-18 Total expensesPrior year $270,627$278,674
I-19 Revenue less expensesPrior year $15,867$76,492
Part VI · Governance 10 of 10 board members independent, 1 to look at
VI-1a Voting members of the governing body10
VI-1b Independent voting members10
VI-15a Process for setting top official's payNo
VI-2 Family or business relationship among officers or directorsNo
VI-12a Written conflict of interest policyYes
VI-13 Written whistleblower policyYes
VI-14 Document retention and destruction policyYes
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $355,166 across 16 lines filed
Lines not itemized here account for −$666 of total revenue; see the IRS return.
VIII-1a Federated campaigns$0
VIII-1b Membership dues$0
VIII-1c Fundraising events$0
VIII-1d Related organizations$0
VIII-1e Government grants$0
VIII-1f All other contributions, gifts and grants$212,353
VIII-1g Noncash contributions (included above)$0
VIII-1h Total contributions, gifts and grants$212,353
VIII-2a-f Program service revenue, itemized rows (sum of 2a–2f as filed)Related to mission $115,694 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$115,691
VIII-3 Investment incomeRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-5 RoyaltiesRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-6 Net rental income or lossRelated to mission $5,657 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$5,657
VIII-7 Net gain or loss on sales of assetsRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-8 Net income from fundraising eventsUnrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0−$1,276
VIII-11a-d Other revenue, itemized rows (sum of 11a–11d as filed)Related to mission $23,407 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$23,407
VIII-12 Total revenueRelated to mission $144,758 · Unrelated business −$666 · Excluded from tax $0$355,166
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $278,674 across 31 lines filed
IX-1 Grants to domestic organizationsPrograms $0$0
IX-2 Grants to domestic individualsPrograms $0$0
IX-3 Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsPrograms $0$0
IX-4 Benefits paid to or for membersPrograms $0$0
IX-5 Pay of current officers, directors and key staffPrograms $86,267 · Management $10,783 · Fundraising $10,783$107,833
IX-6 Pay of disqualified personsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-7 Other salaries and wagesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-8 Pension plan contributionsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-9 Other employee benefitsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-10 Payroll taxesPrograms $6,636 · Management $829 · Fundraising $829$8,294
IX-11a Management feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11b Legal feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11c Accounting feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11d Lobbying feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11e Professional fundraising feesFundraising $0$0
IX-11f Investment management feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11g Other fees for servicesPrograms $81,113 · Management $385 · Fundraising $1,785$83,283
IX-12 Advertising and promotionPrograms $1,486 · Management $506 · Fundraising $433$2,425
IX-13 Office expensesPrograms $4,810 · Management $2,975 · Fundraising $302$8,087
IX-14 Information technologyPrograms $4,362 · Management $5,584 · Fundraising $3,603$13,549
IX-15 RoyaltiesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-16 OccupancyPrograms $33,932 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$33,932
IX-17 TravelPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-18 Travel and entertainment for public officialsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-19 Conferences, conventions and meetingsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-20 InterestPrograms $0 · Management $1,408 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-21 Payments to affiliatesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-22 Depreciation, depletion and amortizationPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-23 InsurancePrograms $3,850 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$3,850
IX-24 Other expenses (24a–d)Programs $15,385 · Management $0 · Fundraising $100$15,485
IX-24e All other expensesPrograms $528 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$1,936
IX-25 Total functional expensesPrograms $238,369 · Management $22,470 · Fundraising $17,835$278,674
Part X · Balance sheet $76,890 assets, 24 lines filed
X-1 Cash, non-interest-bearingStart of year $10,675$32,531
X-2 Savings and temporary cash investmentsStart of year $5,006$44,705
X-3 Pledges and grants receivableStart of year $0$0
X-4 Accounts receivableStart of year $0$0
X-8 Inventories for sale or useStart of year $0$0
X-9 Prepaid expenses and deferred chargesStart of year $0$0
X-10c Land, buildings and equipment, netStart of year $0$0
X-11 Publicly traded securitiesStart of year $0$0
X-12 Other securitiesStart of year $0$0
X-13 Program-related investmentsStart of year $0$0
X-14 Intangible assetsStart of year $0$0
X-15 Other assetsStart of year −$346−$346
X-16 Total assetsStart of year $15,335$76,890
X-17 Accounts payable and accrued expensesStart of year $0$0
X-18 Grants payableStart of year $0$0
X-19 Deferred revenueStart of year $0$0
X-20 Tax-exempt bond liabilitiesStart of year $0$0
X-24 Unsecured notes and loans payableStart of year $17,435$2,697
X-25 Other liabilitiesStart of year $0$0
X-26 Total liabilitiesStart of year $17,435$2,697
X-27 Net assets without donor restrictionsStart of year −$2,100$74,192
X-28 Net assets with donor restrictionsStart of year $0$0
X-32 Total net assets or fund balancesStart of year −$2,100$74,192
X-33 Total liabilities and net assetsStart of year $15,335$76,889
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $74,193 net assets at year end
XI-1 Total revenue$355,166
XI-2 Total expenses$278,674
XI-3 Revenue less expenses$76,492
XI-4 Net assets at start of year−$2,100
XI-5 Net unrealized gains (losses) on investments$0
XI-6 Donated services and use of facilities$0
XI-7 Investment expenses$0
XI-8 Prior period adjustments$0
XI-9 Other changes in net assets−$200
XI-10 Net assets at end of year$74,193

Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2024 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File

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