Museum of Discovery
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 710391707
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Little Rock, AR, USA
- Phone
- 5013967050
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Museum, Museum Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,827,173
- Expenses
- $4,460,718
- Assets
- $24,268,071
- Liabilities
- $12,781,814
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KELLEY BASS (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- KELLEY BASS (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $186,080 total reported compensation
- LISA PADEN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $106,272 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To ignite and fuel a passion for science, technology, arts and math through dynamic interactive experiences.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Arkansas discovery network is a program of the museum of discovery. The network is a consortium of libraries and schools, which are located in multiple sites across the state of Arkansas and are dedicated to serving children and their families, especially in rural areas with high quality educational exhibits, programming and professional development. By participating in the network, the partner locations are strengthened to better serve their communities through professional development and collaboration with peers.
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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -16.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.44; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.6%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 24 of 24 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $186K · 26 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $146K reported
- Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.