Edmundson Art Foundation Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

2024 contained a roster of exhibitions highlighting artists from around the globe and across time, revealing how interconnected we are through family ties, shared spaces, and environmental changes that impact the entire world. Alongside our staff curators, we welcomed exhibitions organized by fitsum shebeshe for independent curators international (states of becoming), featured a print gallery exhibition (coexist) organized by curatorial intern najla evans, and Iowa artists 2025 and minor key were co-curated by artists b. Robert moore and samantha box respectively. Kicking off 2024, states of becoming examined the dynamic forces that shape artistic practices for a group of african artists working in the u.s. Curated by fitsum shebeshe, the exhibition connects conditions of relocation, resettling, and assimilation which inform discussions around identity construction in the contemporary african diaspora. For shebeshe, the exhibition grew out of lived experience and firsthand knowledge of the weight of cultural assimilation, since he moved from addis ababa, ethiopia to baltimore in 2016. Confronted with a different society, the curator developed a wide range of existential questions that shaped his relationship to institution and culture, from the realization that for the first time he was viewed as belonging to a minority because of the color of his skin, to a newly gained awareness of the profound impact of his traditional and conservative native culture on his sense of individuality. Having found kinship among cultural practitioners from the diaspora who shared his experience, shebeshe has united 17 artists for states of becoming, who live and work in cities across the u.s. In New York, Washington, d.c., new haven, detroit, and los angeles among others. From 12 countries in africa and one in the caribbean-ethiopia, ghana, ivory coast, kenya, liberia, mauritania, nigeria, senegal, sierra leone, sudan, trinidad and tobago, tunisia, and zimbabwe-they either relocated to the u.s. Or are first generation born over the last 30 years. Like shebeshe, each artist in the exhibition has had a unique relationship to the u.s. Context, which is reflected in each of their work whether it explores their personal experience or expresses a transformation in their artistic practice because of relocation. Several artists and the curator traveled to des moines for programming. Hurricane season, the year's second exhibition in the meredith gallery, was organized by former associate curator mia laufer. It is an exhibition about a home under threat, cycles of environmental violence, repair even when you know more is coming and inevitable. It is about a home worth rebuilding, even under these conditions. The exhibition featured contemporary art in a range of media by artists from across the caribbean archipelago and the diaspora. Every year from june 1 through november 30, people across the caribbean hold their breath through hurricane season. Hurricanes and the devastation they bring have long been a part of life in the caribbean, but with climate change these storms are getting more frequent and more violent. They pick up steam faster than ever before, leaving little time to prepare. Rising sea levels are eating away at shorelines. The aftermaths of storms are unbearable and shed light on the living legacy of colonialism and ongoing corruption. Yet even as the effects of climate change wreak havoc on the region, life across the archipelago continues; people adapt to an impossible new normal. In the face of a threat at a scale that is difficult to fully comprehend, artists can show us how these climate changes relate to a lived, everyday reality, how they intersect with our experience of family, community, and home. They translate a global crisis to a human scale. The final major exhibition of 2024 was samantha box: caribbean dreams. Box is a jamaican-born, New York-based photographer. Of black jamaican and south asian trinidadian heritage, she creat

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 76.1%; rating input score 76
• Fundraising efficiency: $6.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • 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: 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: -31.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 14.22; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings