Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium

What it reported doing in 2024

The Missoula Butterfly House and Insectariums (MBHI) mission is to inspire an appreciation and understanding of insects and their relatives. MBHI envisions generations ignited by lifelong curiosity and awe for the natural world.Throughout 2023, MBHI worked to prepare for the long-awaited opening of our new facility, creating the new exhibits, interpretive information, and systems for to run our new facility and our back-end operations. We proudly held our grand opening on December 5, 2023.2024 was an incredibly busy year on all fronts, marking our first full year of operations. Some of the highlights of our education efforts and programs included: Visitation: In 2024 we welcomed 74,517 visitors through our doors.School Field Trips: Utilizing a combination of online and in-person learning, we conducted a total of 252 programs for 5,696 students.Field Trip Scholarships: Thanks to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, the Jane S. Heman Foundation, and Melody and Richard Zajdel, we were able to provide field trip scholarships for 125 classes from Title 1 / low-income schools, reaching 2,086 students. We were also able to provide a total of $4,318 in transportation assistance.Online Bug Encounters: Throughout the past year, we conducted 37 Online Bug Encounters reaching 59,230 Facebook and Instagram viewers. Archives at www.missoulabutterflyhouse.org/online-bug-encounters/. These 10 to 15 minute videos have been introducing learners of all ages to some amazing species and insect-focused topics for more than five years.Whats Buzzin: 2024 marked our 10th season of Whats Buzzin over email and social media. This weekly, seasonal report spotlights some of the insect and arthropod species currently being found across western Montana. In 2024 we shared 29 reports identifying 258 unique species across the state.Notes from the Lab: This seasonal (not produced during the summer field season) report is shared on our email list. Covering topics that have ranged from insect folklore to deep dives into the interesting lives of specific species, this series is proof that theres always something new to learn. In 2024 we shared 17 Notes from the Lab reports reaching 38,201 social media followers (and a few thousand more via our email list).Community Science Research: 2024 was our 5th year participating in two national Community Science research projects looking at insect species diversity and abundance. Throughout the year, we were able to engage 15 community participants in these hands-on research projects, providing unique learning opportunities that covered everything from field research to DNA analysis. We also became a partner in the Western Firefly Project, a community science project based out of the Natural History Museum of Utah to document populations of flashing fireflies in the western states. Thanks to our efforts, three new locations were identified with one new species that has never been documented before in Montana.Bugs & Brews Lectures: In 2024 we held 7 lectures for 735 attendees covering a wide variety of insect-related topics.Bug Bytes Podcast: Throughout 2024 we continued to collaborate with Montana Public Radio in producing and airing episodes of our Bug Bytes podcast(https://www.mtpr.org/podcast/bug-bytes).Summer Camps: In 2024 we held 6 week-long summer day camps for 71 campers.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
• Fundraising efficiency: $6.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Fail
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -22.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.8; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 28.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 19.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 27.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings