Midwest Museum of Natural History

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
611402985
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2018
Forms available
Form 990 2018
Location
Sycamore, IL, USA
Phone
8158959777
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
History Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$69,351
Expenses
$109,207
Assets
$648,383
Liabilities
$1,459

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JESSICA LANDAU (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JOSEPHINE MISCH (PRESIDENT)
  • MALWINA BARDONI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MALWINA BARDONI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $10,653 total reported compensation
  • JESSICA LANDAU (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $9,231 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Mission statement of the midwest museum: encouraging our community's appreciation of natural history using shared experiences through collections, exhibits, and education.

What it reported doing in 2018

The midwest museum of natural history opened in 2005 and has since welcomed over 122,000 guests of all ages and backgrounds. The museum exhibits a world-class collection of mounted animals from around the globe, geological specimens, works of art, and live animals. It also conducts educatonal outreach and provides a diverse range of programming, enhancing the quality of cultural life in dekalb county.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 61% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 77.4%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -57.5%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.94; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.2%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -10.7% per year; rating input score 0; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 77.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $84K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $11K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2018
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.