Fenimore Art Museum
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 150539110
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2129776900
- Rating
- 52
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $24,002,518
- Expenses
- $5,766,572
- Assets
- $60,789,580
- Liabilities
- $922,451
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PAUL D'AMBROSIO (PRESIDENT)
- JOSEPH SIRACUSA (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- PAUL D'AMBROSIO (PRESIDENT): $470,551 total reported compensation
- JOSEPH SIRACUSA (VICE PRESIDENT): $237,330 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Preserving, engaging and educating. Welcoming and connecting people to our shared cultural heritage through exhibitions and programs that provoke, delight and inspire.
What it reported doing in 2024
Publications-to promote and encourage historical research by means of lectures pubications and distribution
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 92% 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
MIXED - 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 17
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 93
- Sustainability: 88
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 11.7%; rating input score 12
- Program expense ratio: 30%; rating input score 30
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 76%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.54; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 11.7% of revenue deployed · 30% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $1.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $471K · 20 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.4M reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 12/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 30/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.