Creative Arts Workshops for Kids Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
CAWs mission is to improve the lives of New York City youth through the visual and multimedia arts. CAW serves thousands of young people each year through in-school and out-of-school-time classes, community art-making events, and public art youth employment programs.
- Income
- $2.1 million
- Spending
- $2.0 million
- Spent on programs
- 72%
- Reserves
- 7.9 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 77%
- Employees
- 48
- Volunteers
- 73
- Highest pay
- $149,729, executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 93 out of 100. Higher than 80% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
28 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 7.9 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 9% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 4% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 7% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1572% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 21 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 65% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
25 of 2515 of 16 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $594,718 spent. PUBLIC ART YOUTH EMPLOYMENT: In FY25, Creative Art Works offered 367 internships and apprenticeships through 18 Public Art Youth Employment programs. Under the guidance of CAW teaching artists and program management, Youth Apprentices developed creative skills, employment skills, and life skills, such as leadership, teamwork, and the power of taking initiative and responsibility through the creation of large-scale public art or multimedia projects in collaboration with local businesses, organizations, and public spaces. In the summer of 2025 alone, CAW served a record high of 135 Youth Apprentices (YAs) at worksites. Projects included four murals, a multimedia oral history short film, and a multimedia guidebook to the New York Family Court System. During the 2024-2025 academic year, CAW provided an additional 213 paid Character Design digital artmaking internships at four Career and Technical Education public high schools. (continued in schedule O)
- $327,639 spent. OUT-OF-SCHOOL-TIME ARTS EDUCATION AND ENRICHMENT: In the 2024-2025 academic year, 212 students participated in 7 Out-of-School-Time programs with 6 partners. Students learned artmaking techniques including watercolor, crayon, and oil pastel painting; cut-paper flower techniques; textured stamp making; Sumi ink illustrations; paper and kinetic sculpture making; leaf stamps; accordion bookmaking; paper-folding techniques; and clay pottery and sculpture. Literacy-based programs aligned artmaking with English language arts modules, encouraging younger learners to engage more deeply with the books they read in school. High school students at Hudson High School for Learning Technologies worked together to choose a theme, brainstorm representative symbols, colors, and words, and develop concept art for a mural to be installed within the school. (continued in schedule O)
- $314,591 spent. IN-SCHOOL ARTS EDUCATION AND ARTS INTEGRATION: In the 2024-2025 academic year, CAWs In-School programs reached 873 NYC public school students in 9 semester-long or year-long programs, offered with 6 school partners. Students in our In-School programs explored subjects like activism in art, surrealism, and even reinterpreting medieval illustration through a modern lens. Projects included collage-making, watercolors, decalcomania, cubist self portraits, digital collage and pop art, pottery, sculpture, bookmaking, contour drawing, board game making, paper cutting and folding, map making, oil painting, and more. In each case, CAWs professional teaching artists and program management staff collaborated with school teaching staff and administrators to align lesson plans with the core curriculum, showing demonstrable impacts on academic behaviors and performance. (continued in schedule O)
- $200,651 spent. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES: Other program services include CAWs fourth core program, Community Artmaking, which engage youth with their families as part of larger public events with community partners. More than 600 NYC youth and their families participated in eight Community Artmaking events in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Other program services included the development of new program initiatives and our Teaching Artist Assistant-in-Training program, through which six Teaching Artist Assistants-in-Training were provided with mentorship and skills development support and served as assistant to more seasoned Teaching Artists in classrooms and at mural sites.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending August 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending August 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 1992.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.