Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 516020908
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Chadds Ford, PA, US
- Phone
- 610.388.2700
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Museum, Museum Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $42,707,848
- Expenses
- $15,888,057
- Assets
- $208,670,282
- Liabilities
- $7,166,827
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
34 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Virginia A Logan (Exec Director & Asst Secretary): $395,003 total reported compensation
- Thomas Padon (Museum Director): $302,909 total reported compensation
- Karl Malkin (CFO): $236,454 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art protects the natural and cultural resources of the Brandywine River Valley through land conservation, environmental stewardship, and the presentation of American art, with a focus on the Wyeth family legacy.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Brandywine Conservancy (the Conservancy) works for preservation and wise management of natural, historic, and scenic resources of the Brandywine Valley and surrounding areas with particular and strong emphasis on the preservation of land, water supplies and agriculture. Through this program, the Conservancy acquires conservation easements on open spaces and often on historic lands and, as of this filing, has 514 easements which are regularly monitored to assure landowner's compliance with the restrictions in each easement. The program aids municipal governments in the region on environmental issues such as storm water management, ordinances of various types affecting land and water resources, and land use planning. The Conservancy owns more than 3,009 acres of land which it carefully manages to help preserve land and water resources and to serve as models of high standards in the stewardship of natural and agricultural lands.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 60
- Transparency & Controls: 58
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 85
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 55.3%; rating input score 55
- Program expense ratio: 74.3%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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: Yes; rating input score 100
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: 62.8%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 13.13; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 55.3% of revenue deployed · 74.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $11.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $395K · 34 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.9M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.