The Journey Museum
Legal name: Museum Alliance of Rapid City Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 363727899
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
- Location
- Rapid City, SD, US
- Phone
- (605) 394-6923
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,149,861
- Expenses
- $832,055
- Assets
- $4,289,707
- Liabilities
- $73,289
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- CONOR MCMAHON (EXECUTIVE DI): $122,626 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Step through our doors and embark on a journey through 2 billion years of history—connecting you with the people, cultures, and science behind the ancient Black Hills and prairies of Western South Dakota. It’s a journey rich with stories and traditions—from prehistoric encounters and Native American heritage to pioneer tales and spaceflight.
What it reported doing in 2025
The journey museum houses artifacts and materials that assist in the education and understanding of our area's history, heritage, and culture. The museum includes a wide variety of prehistoric and historic artifacts that tell the complete story of the black hills region - from the perspective of the lakota people and the pioneers who shaped its past, to the scientists who now study it. The journey museum educates, supports and provides learning and cultural awareness to community members and visitors. Activities include a learning lab stocked with educational materials, youth educational experiences, school and group tours, and adult educational programs. The journey museum saw approximately 30,000 visitors in the museum in 2025. The museum also seeks to collaborate whenever possible with other organizations and potential partners while always honoring our current partnerships. We believe collaboration is essential to organizational success. In 2025, the journey museum acquired all assets of minnilusa historical association, a 501c3 organization that maintains a pioneer museum. The acquisition allows the journey to expand its collection. The hope is that the combined resources and aligned objectives will result in visitor growth.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% 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 - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 40
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 81
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 13.9%; rating input score 14
- Program expense ratio: 68.1%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $71.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 79.9%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.16; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.7%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 13.9% of revenue deployed · 68.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $566K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $123K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 14/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.