Museum of Flight

What it reported doing in 2024

The museum of flight in seattle, wa, one of the world's largest private nonprofit air and space museums, hosted more than 465,000 visitors in 2024 while being open for 363 days.the museum had 205 full-time employees in 2024, and 509 active volunteers who contributed 71,846 hours through tours, guest lectures and guest interactions. In striving for its vision to "inspire all through the limitless possibility of flight..." the museum served over 46,000 students with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (stem) disciplines. The museum also provided over $343,000 in financial aid and scholarships. The museum is a smithsonian affiliate and is also accredited by the american alliance of museums. In 2023, the museum updated its mission to focus on and emphasize the audiences it is proud to serve: the museum of flight is a community where we unleash the innovation, passion, and human story of flight to unlock joy and the amazing potential in everyone. The museum of flight exists to: collect, preserve, and participate in the dynamic and diverse stories of aerospace capture the awe of the past, present, and future of aviation and space for all to experience provide innovative experiential learning opportunities for people of all ages create a sense of belonging and community around the shared connection to flight. The museum displays over 175 air- and spacecraft, along with artifacts showcasing aerospace history. In addition to the many permanent exhibits covering the breadth of aerospace history, the museum provides several temporary exhibits each year showcasing a wide range of subjects. In addition to the aircraft on view, the museum maintains the largest aeronautical library and archives open to the public on the west coast. Our world-class collection is made possible by wonderful contributions from our community and 2024 was no exception. In 2024, the museum accessioned 951 donations into our collection. These included 84 new objects, uniforms and photographs and 867 additions to the harl v. Brackin memorial library. Additionally, the research center received and fulfilled over 951 research requests and hosted 460 visitors.the museum's educational programs support both state and national standards, Washington state science learning standards and common core state standards. The museum's educator professional development programs are certified to provide clock hour credits for teachers. The museum offered more than 20 programs and include the american camp association accredited aerospace camp experience (ace) summer camp, the nationally acclaimed challenger learning center (clc), the museum-designed aviation learning center (alc), and a wide range of distance learning programs. The museum also hosts the Washington aerospace scholars (was), a competitive, collaborative program with nasa is privately funded and intended to keep the nation at the forefront of technical competitiveness. Additionally, the museum's campus is home to raisbeck aviation high school, part of the highline school district with 400 students and a stem-based curriculum.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 35.6%; rating input score 36
• Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
• Fundraising efficiency: $24.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • 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: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 60.4%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 14.09; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 8.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings