Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953384859
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Phone
8059665373
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$423,053
Expenses
$624,409
Assets
$68,400
Liabilities
$99,324

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • FREDERICK JANKA (PRESIDENT)
  • CASSANDRIA BLACKMORE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DALIA GARCIA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • FABIAN LEYVA-BARRAGAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DALIA GARCIA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $77,772 total reported compensation
  • FABIAN LEYVA-BARRAGAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $43,603 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Museum of contemporary art santa barbara (mcasb) seeks to enrich lives and inspire critical thinking through meaningful engagement with the art and ideas of our time. Mcasb provides santa barbara and the central coast with exhibitions and programming that encourage discovery, cultivate new perspectives, and challenge the way we see and experience the world, ourselves, and each other.

What it reported doing in 2024

Serve. As a cultural center located at the heart of downtown santa barbara, we are committed to listening and responding to our community's diverse needs. We are dedicated to being a safe space for learning and exploration - inclusive in all aspects of race, religion, age, gender identity, ability, and socioeconomic status. We aspire to remain flexible in order to (co)create compelling, relevant programming that adapts to an ever-changing social dynamic.connect. We aspire to be a platform for open, respectful, and impactful discourse with our community and beyond. Through collaborative relationships with cultural organizations, area nonprofits, academic institutions, local governing bodies, hospitality partners, and more, mcasb is able to extend our programming to reach a broad and diverse public. Impact. Mcasb is passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of individuals, and society, through engagement with contemporary art and culture. Mcasb's exhibitions inform our educational and experiential programming, which are designed to inspire curiosity, cultivate empathy, and broaden perspectives through the art and ideas of our time.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 8
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 72%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: -47.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.11; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.45; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.4%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -11.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.1% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10.5% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 72% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $449K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.