American Women Artists

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742816298
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Knoxville, TN, USA
Phone
9792161630
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$464,067
Expenses
$308,242
Assets
$422,953
Liabilities
$9,396

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAREN VERNON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNTIL 11/08/2024)
  • JANET LEE (PRESIDENT)
  • LISA GLEIM (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ANDREA BAILEY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AS OF 12/16/2024)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAREN VERNON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNTIL 11/08/2024): $34,975 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

American women artists (awa) is a non-profit organization qualified under section 501c3 of the internal revenue code. The organization is dedicated to the inspiration, celebration and encouragement of women in the visual fine arts by creating professional exhibition opportunities for its members in galleries and museums around the country, increasing public awareness of women's accomplishments in the visual fine arts, and providing educational opportunities through workshops, artist demos, and the organization's website and newsletter.

What it reported doing in 2024

National museum exhibition: during this fiscal year, awa worked on two museum exhibitions. The loveland museum exhibition was held in loveland, co september through november 2024. The national sporting library & museum is being held october 2025 through march 2026. These juried museum exhibitions provide our members with exposure and promotion of their work on a national scale and in a museum setting. This helps to elevate the work of all women artists in the field and increase the amount of women's artwork exhibited in museums across the country. All members in the exhibition are juried for awards of cash and donated merchandise, which helps to support their work in the field of visual fine arts. Awa self-publishes an annual museum catalogue, which further promotes the mission of the organization and the work of its artists to a broader audience.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 49.1%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 73.9%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.6%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.37; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 49.1% of revenue deployed · 73.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $228K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $35K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.