Arizona-sonora Desert Museum

What it reported doing in 2024

Art institutethe mission of the asdm art institute is "conservation through art education." we seek to engage people in nature-focused art classes and inspire new conservation advocates. To this end, we offer art classes, art exhibits, and stewardship of the museum's art collection. Art classes: art professionals teach all art classes, and class content emphasizes our living collections and sonoran desert setting. In fiscal year 2025, the art institute served 1,261 students on-site. 27 instructors taught 174 different art and photography classes. Four students graduated from the nature art certificate program and 112 brand new students entered the program. On our website, we offer 10 free videos, viewed by over 1,200 people. We also provide a video class subscription service; it currently has 114 subscribers and 258 videos.total audience served in 2025: 2,575permanent collection: vanishing circles is a permanent art collection comprising 92 original paintings depicting disappearing wildlife, plants, and habitats of the sonoran desert. In addition, the museum has a small permanent collection of 49 art pieces named the baldwin collection. We also have a collection of 73 works by sheridan oman, 108 by manabu saito, and 68 by rhonda spencer. In 2020, we acquired a collection of 23 original scratchboard pieces by priscilla baldwin depicting animals from the museum. This collection is now on permanent display in the baldwin building. In 2024 we purchased a sculpture for the grounds called "more bees please" it serves to call awareness to our pollinator gardens. In 2025 three more pieces by priscilla baldwin were donated to the collection.total pieces in the art collection in 2025: 435gallery exhibits: we host 8 to 12 unique art exhibits annually in the ironwood gallery and baldwin education gallery. These art exhibits serve the mission of the desert museum by revealing the beauty of the sonoran habitat and wildlife to our visitors through visual arts. In 2025, we had 51,435 visitors in our ironwood galleries and 4,545 in our baldwin galleries. In total, we produced and opened eleven unique art exhibits. These live shows are available virtually on our website, making them accessible to audiences worldwide.thirty-six volunteers staff our galleries. Their job is to facilitate engagement between guests and exhibits; they help visitors deepen their understanding of the intersection between art, science, and conservation.in 2025, we hosted a museum wide steel sculpture exhibition. The artist loaned us the four interactive steel sculptures at no cost to the museum.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 57.3%; rating input score 57
• Program expense ratio: 79.5%; rating input score 80
• Fundraising efficiency: $23.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • 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: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 35.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.15; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings