American Association of Museums

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530205889
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
2022891818
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,908,160
Expenses
$10,717,931
Assets
$15,496,524
Liabilities
$8,544,888

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

33 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARILYN JACKSON (PRESIDENT & CEO FROM 4/22/24)
  • BROOKE LEONARD (INTERIM CEO THRU 4/22/24)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARILYN JACKSON (PRESIDENT & CEO FROM 4/22/24): $341,971 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER CALVERT HALL (VP, ADVANCEMENT): $169,287 total reported compensation
  • CAROL CONSTANTINE (SR DIR.FINANCE & ADMIN THRU 10/31/24): $158,928 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Champion equitable and impactful museums by connecting people, fostering learning and community, and nurturing museum excellence.

What it reported doing in 2024

Learning, meetings and professional education: captures the alliance's commitment to the advancement, professional development, and networking of the museum community. The alliance's annual meeting is the largest cultural meeting that brings together all disciplines of museum management, and represents the broad spectrum of alliance members, from aquariums and art museums to science centers and zoos. The meeting is also the largest exposition of its kind featuring companies and products serving the museum industry. The future of museums summit is a virtual conference devoted to current topics, trends and issues facing museums now and in the future.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 72% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.9%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 66.7%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.7%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.45; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.55; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.9% of revenue deployed · 66.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $7.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $342K · 33 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.