Museum of Make Believe

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
842754292
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Laguna Beach, CA, USA
Phone
9492289297
Rating
36
Verdict
REVIEW
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Art Museums

Reported finances

Revenue
$156,943
Expenses
$95,938
Assets
$69,594
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Amy Mitchell (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Amy Mitchell (Executive Director)
  • Kelsey Irvin (Treasurer)
  • Geoff Mitchell (Creative Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Educational Purpose: Educating the public about the arts through exhibitions, research, and public programming. Public Benefit: Operating primarily for public education or charitable purposes, such as maintaining a public art collection.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Museum of Make Believe, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts and education organization based in Laguna Beach, California, expanded its community impact significantly during the reporting period. During this year, the organization successfully opened its first permanent immersive exhibit space, providing a unique, story-driven artistic environment designed to inspire creativity and imagination among visitors of all ages. The Museum strengthened its educational outreach by hosting more than forty homeschool and public school groups, offering interactive, arts-based learning experiences aligned with its mission to promote storytelling, creativity, and youth development. In addition, the organization served over 15,000 guests from across California, demonstrating strong community engagement and growing regional visibility. Visitors experienced immersive exhibits, participatory storytelling, and creative programming designed to foster imagination and emotional connection to the arts. Through these efforts, the Museum of Make Believe continued to expand access to arts education, support local creative culture, and provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities for children, families, and school communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 94% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
No current program activity. The filing reports no program spending for the current year.

The verdict

REVIEW - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 0
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 38.9%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 1 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.