Museum of Northwest Art

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911181221
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
La Conner, WA, USA
Phone
3604664446
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Art Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,335,276
Expenses
$1,027,773
Assets
$2,901,297
Liabilities
$763,509

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GRETCHEN MCCAULEY (PRESIDENT)
  • THOMAS BUCKNELL (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • STEFANO CATALANI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • STEFANO CATALANI (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $139,350 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The museum of northwest art collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits art created in the pacific northwest, supports artists, and strives to integrate art into the lives of all people. The museum is free and open to the public seven days a week.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education programs: the museum of northwest art engages with its surrounding communities through a variety of education programs. Mona link provides comprehensive art education for students from pre-k to middle school. Since 2003, the program has served over 10,300 students and provided training for 214 teachers (updated may 2025) in the school districts of anacortes, bellingham, burlington-edison, concrete, la conner, mount vernon, mount baker, sedro-woolley and stanwood-camano. Mona's adult, youth & family and outreach programs are designed to promote the creative expression and artistic education of our diverse community through tours, art-making activities, and talks offered at the museum.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.8%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 71.7%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th 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: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 23%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.82; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.6%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.8% of revenue deployed · 71.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $737K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.