Laguna College of Art + Design
Legal name: Laguna College of Art & Design
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 952415066
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Laguna Beach, CA, US
- Phone
- (949) 376-6000
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Higher Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $75,832,713
- Expenses
- $28,671,178
- Assets
- $93,513,432
- Liabilities
- $15,306,968
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEVEN BRITTAN (PRESIDENT)
- MARK SAVILLE (INTERIM PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- STEVEN BRITTAN (PRESIDENT): $450,393 total reported compensation
- JAMES GODEK (CFO): $299,143 total reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER BROWN (VP OF ENROLLMENT MANAGEMEN): $243,103 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
LCAD Gallery’s mission is to create transformative and influential exhibitions that expand on the educational and creative objectives of Laguna College of Art + Design’s majors.
What it reported doing in 2024
Laguna college of art and design is a fully accredited four year college with a current enrollment of approximately 699 students in the undergraduate program. Laguna college awards a bachelor of fine arts degree with majors in drawing and painting, graphic design, game art, illustration, and animation. Laguna college also provides a masters of fine arts degree in painting, with a current enrollment of approximately 19 students and a master in fine arts program in the art of game with approximately 10 students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.
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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 57
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 79
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 32.9%; rating input score 33
- Program expense ratio: 88.1%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $70.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 62.2%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.26; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 32.9% of revenue deployed · 88.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $25.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $450K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $993K reported
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.