Association of Midwest Museums

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
371050610
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Fishers, IN, USA
Phone
8887244266
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$254,174
Expenses
$225,170
Assets
$42,374
Liabilities
$126

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRENDA RANEY (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • CHARITY COUNTS (EXECUTIVE DI)
  • CHARLES KATZENMEYER (PAST PRESIDE)
  • BRENDA RANEY (PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The member-focused association of midwest museums connects and strengthens midwest museums by providing nationally relevant, regionally specific, accessible programs, products, and networking opportunities that promote best practices.

What it reported doing in 2025

Hosted 20+ virtual programs. The association's annual conference took place virtually and in-person in the quad cities (davenport, ia), in partnership with the Illinois association of museums and in cooperation with the Iowa museums association. The conference included guest speakers and sessions on a variety of topics for individuals in leadership and key operating and programmatic roles in museums. Additional programs included midwest museums connect meetups focused on current trends and challenges in museums. Amm continued to maintain the museum learning hub, a cross-regional training resource for museum professionals, and developed conceptual outlines for a new management training series for the hub with federal funding from an institute of museum and library services (imls) national leadership grant for museums. The series will begin production in 2026.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 80% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 90.4%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $58.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.4%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -19.6% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.1% of revenue deployed · 90.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $204K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.