Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
382236345
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone
7349955439
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,568,439
Expenses
$4,645,663
Assets
$11,373,109
Liabilities
$1,066,060

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUSAN WESTHOFF (PRESIDENT/CE)

Highest reported compensation

  • SUSAN WESTHOFF (PRESIDENT/CE): $171,973 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ann arbor hands-on museum creates moments of discovery that inspire curiosity, exploration and respect for stem and the natural world. Together with the leslie science & nature center, we envision a world where curiosity today leads to more purposeful lives tomorrow.

What it reported doing in 2024

The ann arbor hands-on museum and leslie science & nature center provide unique, inspiring programs and spaces for communities across southeastern Michigan to enjoy. We serve over 300,000 annually through our innovative programming, engaging area schools, scouts, community groups and families to explore stem concepts and careers. Through our ann arbor locations and outreach programming, we engage people across 11 counties in southeast Michigan as well as throughout the state and nation through our distance learning programs. In addition, we provide robust top-rated virtual programming across the country and even world-wide. The museum operates daily programming both on- and off-site; bringing scientific concepts to life through hands-on experiments. The museum centers accessibility in our programming with scholarships, as well as discounted admissions for underserved communities. Barrier-free access is paramount to our work, and we seek to explore expanding opportunities for all to learn about stem and explore career pathways. The leslie science and nature center provides programming which includes environmental education along with wildlife and science-based programs for children and families. Programming includes school field trips to the nature center, outreach across southeastern Michigan including live wildlife presentations and environmental programming as well as a robust summer camp program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 63% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 73.7%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • 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 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.45; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.1% of revenue deployed · 73.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $172K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.