Contemporary Art Museum St Louis

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
431202816
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3145354660
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Service Organizations and Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,605,471
Expenses
$3,600,172
Assets
$30,654,355
Liabilities
$379,864

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LISA MELANDRI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • LISA MELANDRI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $243,199 total reported compensation
  • JESSICA C WHITTAKER (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $119,896 total reported compensation
  • DEAN DADERKO (CHIEF CURATOR): $117,296 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Contemporary art museum st. Louis promotes meaningful engagement with the most relevant and innovative art being made today.

What it reported doing in 2024

Exhibition programs: the contemporary art museum st. Louis (cam), a non-collecting institution, is internationally recognized for exhibitions of the most provocative, insightful, and relevant contemporary art being made today. In fy25, cam presented exhibitions of prescient and seminal work by emerging and established artists, working with varied media including painting, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, assemblage, installation, and video. Cam presented the ceramic works of shinichi sawada (an exhibition co-organized by the mint museum in partnership with the mint museum in charlotte, nc), the work of local artists saj issa, basil kincaid, and ronald young in the eleventh edition of great rivers biennial, a new mural by ad minoliti, a new video work by renowned artist charles atlas, the group exhibition like water which featured artists jamal cyrus, simone fattal, dionne lee, candice lin, beatriz santiago muoz, and vivian suter. Alongside its exhibitions, cam produces scholarly exhibition catalogs: an illustrated, full color book including texts and interpretive essays. Cam co-published a catalog along with the mint museum for the shinichi sawada exhibition. The museum continued its partnership with bengelina hospitality group to run ao&co at cam, a cafe space giving cam visitors and neighbors alike the opportunity to enjoy coffee breaks, lunch meetings, and see some art too. In fy25, cam served 27,424 visitors in person and 251,338 visitors online.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 71% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 74.3%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 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: 0.1%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.51; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.2% of revenue deployed · 74.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $243K · 30 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.