National Cambodian Museum & Killing Fields Memorial

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474219699
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7738787090
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Reported finances

Revenue
$280,582
Expenses
$179,463
Assets
$256,913
Liabilities
$20,482

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Laura Ouk (President)
  • Sophoan Khoeun (Vice President)
  • Paul Chhorm (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Laura Ouk (President)
  • Sophoan Khoeun (Vice President)
  • Brian Wells (Treasurer)

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

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

Overview

Mission

Mission of NCHM is to build community through shared healing through art, language, memory, and histories.

What it reported doing in 2024

NCHM employs a holistic and integrated approach to its programming. There are four programming areas. 1) Increase the awareness of the Cambodian Genocide: Our long-term goal is to bring justice to the Cambodian Genocide survivors through mobilizing the broader society by increasing people's awareness of the Cambodian Genocide and its long-lasting impacts on the Cambodian community. NCHM provides guided tours of our permanent exhibition, Remembering the Killing Fields, and the Memorial; dialogues with visitors; and genocide workshops. 2) Facilitate healing through storytelling and shared memories.: The Remembering the Killing Fields exhibition tells lives under the Khmer Rouge based on more than 40 life histories told by local survivors. The exhibition provides a forum for dialogues among Cambodians from different generations, and between Cambodians and non-Cambodians. Since 2017, we have worked with Ada Cheng, a storyteller/producer, to incorporate storytelling into NCHM's programming. We aim to create a safe environment for participants of all ages, in which many of them share their stories for the first time in their lives. One Cambodian woman who lived through the genocide said, "it feels like something heavy in my head has been lifted. It feels like haling." 3) Culture and Healing Arts: We believe in the power of the arts in healing. NCHM, in collaboration with musicians, dancers, artists, and professionals, employs a holistic approach to address complex challenges that survivors and their families face. NCHM provides various activities that community members can use to explore the process of healing. We offer dance, music, and language classes; collaborations with artists to conduct workshops and exhibitions; and peer support groups, which incorporate music into their activities. In 2020, we launched "Music Connection," a virtual program that brings music and conversation to Cambodian seniors who have been staying at home and feeling isolated. 4) Foster youth leadership in social justice and peace building: NCHM provides a unique environment that facilitates critical thinking and learning, discussion and dialogue, and creative processes in which youth and young adults explore their heritage and identity, and their roles in the community as well as in a broader society to bring justice to the community and to advocate peace building.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% 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 most voting board members are independent. 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: 46
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34.7%; rating input score 35
  • Program expense ratio: 54.2%; rating input score 54
  • Fundraising efficiency: $54.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 36%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.43; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 34.7% of revenue deployed · 54.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $97K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.