Children's Museum of Sonoma County
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203496878
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Santa Rosa, CA, USA
- Phone
- 7075464069
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Children's Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,707,626
- Expenses
- $2,861,758
- Assets
- $8,398,051
- Liabilities
- $452,562
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Collette Michaud (CEO)
- Greg Steele (President)
- Mike Lopez (PRESIDENT ELECT)
Highest reported compensation
- Noelle Moss (Director of Advancement): $138,846 total reported compensation
- Collette Michaud (CEO): $135,000 total reported compensation
- Douglas Kay (CFO): $18,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To inspire curiosity and creativity in children through joyful, transformative experiences.
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule o
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.
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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 53
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 75
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 45.6%; rating input score 46
- Program expense ratio: 71.2%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: 39.2%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.93; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 45.6% of revenue deployed · 71.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 21 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.