Heard
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Heard's mission is to foster creativity, confidence, self-worth, and life skills to adults, families, and youth in need who are marginalized, underserved, unknown, and unheard by offering them artistic expression through experiential instruction and participation. We serve those in need. We serve our program partners. We serve artists.
- Income
- $69,803
- Spending
- $77,218
- Reserves
- 4.5 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 92%
- Highest pay
- $30,833, executive director
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Fair: 63 out of 100. Higher than 26% of charities in its peer group (education, under $250k).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 4.5 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
4 of 15Spending exceeded income by 11% of income.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, 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 (3)
- $31,745 spent. Heard hires local artists to teach creativity and life skills through art to adults, families, and youth who may be in recovery, survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault, LGBTQA, older adults, immigrant, incarcerated, or transitioning from incarceration or homelessness, through its partnerships with Alexandria and other Northern Virginia area nonprofit and government organizations. We offer acting, creative writing (journaling, memoir writing, and more), dance, etiquette, improvisation, poetry, public speaking, singing, spoken word, and visual art. In 2024 our artists conducted over 250 classes for our program partners serving approximately 2500 people in need. We work with people in need exclusively, and they benefit in powerful and life-changing ways. Heard brings the arts to those who are physically unable to access other art programs offered to the public. The incarcerated cannot leave their facilities for any reason, including to attend or participate in arts events. Program partners and their respective missions include: Alexandria Adult Detention Center, Arlington County Detention Center, Carpenter's Shelter (housing the homeless), Casa Chirilagua (low-income, immigrant Latino youth), City of Alexandria Department of Health and Community Services LGBTQA Task Force, Opioid Treatment Program, and Sexual Assault Survivor Group, Community Lodgings (transitional housing, housing, and youth education for low-income, primarily Latino youth), Doorways (assault survivors), Friends of Guest House (women re-entering the community after incarceration), Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center, Senior Services of Alexandria (older adults), Space of Her Own (mentoring for BiPOC 12-year-old girls), and Together We Bake (women needing a second chance).
- $30,833 spent. Our contracted Executive Director (ED) coordinates all day-to-day operations of Heard to deliver program services, including relationship building, programming, training, ongoing support of program partners and artists, outreach, and budgeting. The ED also facilitates corporate, board, artist, and stakeholder communications as well as fundraises and writes grants. The ED is the nucleus of Heard and the nonprofit would cease to deliver services in the absence of the ED. More specifically, the ED accomplished the following- Program partner support: In 2024 the ED budgeted and delivered over 20 classes per month among our program partners, and developed or maintained a program partner agreement with each. The program partner agreement assigns responsibilities and commitments. The agreement includes desired outcomes for clients, artists, and program partners, and emphasizes that our mission is to foster creativity, not therapy. The agreement also includes statements regarding hold harmless agreements, media releases, access to staff members during programs, evaluations, and professional expectations. It is vital to our mutual success that both artist and client have a positive experience. We structure our classes based on our partners' requests and offer them as often as they ask. We work twice a week with one partner, and once annually with others. Classes are held onsite or virtually, depending on the program partner and the assigned artist's needs. In addition to our programming, Heard offers other support to our program partners and also partners with other metro Washington arts organizations. The winning works from our annual writing contests have been shared with and performed at local poetry and art venues. Each program partner is asked to evaluate Heard's partnership with them annually based on established outcomes. Artist support: the executive director is responsible for selecting, training, facilitating, scheduling, and compensating the nearly 20 members of our art team, and collecting and analyzing evaluations from program partners about the Heard artist and art program following the completion of a class or series of classes. Artists are selected for the Heard team based on their professional art training, teaching experience, compassion/empathy, and their ability to maintain healthy boundaries with clients. Artists complete an orientation with the ED, any training required by a program partner, and lesson plans prior to each class. Each artist is asked to evaluate the Heard/executive director management of them annually, based on established outcomes.
- $10,339 spent. In an effort to better serve our clients, our program partners, and our art team, Heard undertook a strategic planning effort to thoroughly evaluate and improve our processes and procedures, and plan for future expansion. A key result of this effort was to establish standardized outcomes for our clients, our partners, and our organization, allowing us to define success and the tools to quantifiably measure it. The desired outcomes and associated response statements for clients, program partners, and artists were developed in 2022 and are still being used with positive results. We re-evaluated this process in 2024 under the direction of our new ED. We also expanded our outreach to other communities and worked with communities in other localities to use the Heard model and methods to solve their local needs using local artists. This initiative, known as KickstART, was successfully implemented in two rural Ohio communities. One community created a community-driven public art event that was the foundation for a far-reaching arts initiative that has received national recognition. The second program, focused on offering arts to students with mental health challenges, received full funding from the local United Way and has also been very successful. This program service accomplichment also includes maintaining our website where client writing, poetry, visual arts, and performances are displayed, allowing our clients to feel more heard; supplies for conducting classes; and small cash prizes for the winners of the writing contests we sponsor in local detention centers.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, 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 September 7, 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 September 30, 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 September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 2019.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 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 7, 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.