Museo De Las Americas

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841197230
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3035714404
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,181,470
Expenses
$1,383,999
Assets
$956,068
Liabilities
$105,131

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mary Valdez (President)
  • Claudia Moran (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Claudia Moran (Executive Director): $107,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Museo De Las Americas is dedicated to educating our community through collecting preserving interpreting and exhibiting the diverse arts and cultures of the Americas from ancient to contemporary through innovative exhibitions and programs. These programs are guided by a culturally- responsive education model that is founded on the philosophy that fostering a students culture and encouraging creativity are critical in setting the foundation for authentic meaningful learning experiences. The success of this approach is clear as this model has been implemented by organizations seeking diversity training for their staff. Educational programming and exhibits are at the core of Museos mission and Museo continues to remain conscientious of its communitys needs and respond to the recommendations and feedback received from its patrons and community leaders. Museos exhibitions and programming remain innovative and relevant to an ever- expanding population.

What it reported doing in 2024

During the 2024-2025 year Museo de las Americas welcomed 939 students onsite and served an additional 2,759 students through off site programming extending our reach well beyond the museum walls.Museos educational programming encourages meaningful exploration of the arts histories and cultures of Latin America. This year we partnered with 58 unique schools across the Denver metro area with our highest concentration of participants in Denver County where we served 2,897 students.Museo is deeply committed to providing equitable access to arts education for people of all backgrounds identities and abilities. We do this by offering discounted rates for workshops and tours at Title I schools and by providing scholarships to the majority of families participating in our summer programs ensuring that financial barriers never limit opportunity. In our 16th Annual Summer Arts + Culture Camp we served 72 students in grades Pre-K through 6th. The 2025 camp focused on El Salvador highlighting its art history cultural traditions and ecological diversity. The majority of participants received full or partial scholarships. Students culminated their experience with a final performance for family and friends celebrating the knowledge and skills they gained throughout the summer. Through the Lxs Jvenes Leadership Lab Museo strengthened youth engagement by forming key partnerships with the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Nebraska Omaha. These collaborations enhanced teen programming focused on museum curation storytelling and artmaking with the ultimate goal of a youth-led exhibition opening in January 2026. During the spring the program served 15 youth ages 13-17 and in the fall sessions the program served 15 youth ages 13-17 and during the summer an additional 21 teens participated. All three cohorts attended at no cost reinforcing Museos commitment to accessibility and youth leadership development.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.6%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 75.6%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.69; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.6% of revenue deployed · 75.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 47 of 47 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.