Clyfford Still Museum

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861147083
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
7203544880
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Art Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,523,236
Expenses
$6,896,583
Assets
$18,954,279
Liabilities
$1,227,014

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

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUSANNAH DRAKE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOYCE TSAI (MUSEUM DIREC): $335,674 total reported compensation
  • ANNA BOATWRIGHT (DEPUTY DIREC): $214,053 total reported compensation
  • BARBARA RUSSELL (DIRECTOR DEV): $161,822 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Home to the art and legacy of the american painter clyfford still, we invite all to explore the potential of individual creative endeavor.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education and programs: as part of the museum's vision to offer quality programs and conduct scholarly research relating to the art and life of clyfford still, the museum engages our audiences through programs and educational offerings that both enliven museum spaces and provide opportunities for meditation - in single events and longer term collaborations. Programs are designed to foster a dialogue about still's work and its current and future relevance. Using the work of clyfford still as a point of departure, the museum's programs create a unique platform for exploring the concerns of modern and contemporary art through multiple voices and interdisciplinary programs. The clyfford still museum offers lectures, films, productions, tours and interpretive materials and technologies to support and engage visitors' understanding about the work of clyfford still, his life, and significance to modern and contemporary art. Programs include a variety of local, national, and international speakers and partners. The museum developed the instill gallery visit program for school groups in grades 4-12 through which trained gallery instructors provide thematically integrated, standards-aligned lessons relating to the museum's collections. The clyfford still museum has begun to digitize and catalog clyfford still's archives which, when available to students and scholars, will provide a rich body of materials that will enlarge the understanding of still's works and his place in 20th century american art. The clyfford still museum has other initiatives designed to make the still collections more accessible to a variety of audiences. In 2013, the museum formed a research center and held its first scholarly symposium in New York. The research center will continue to develop programs that foster research and writing about clyfford still, his time and his work. The museum is also publishing books that contain reproductions of still's works and scholarly and historic articles about the artist. The museum is continually developing technology solutions to reach increasingly broad audiences.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.3%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 68.4%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.75; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.3% of revenue deployed · 68.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $336K · 29 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.