Nebraska Cultural Endowment

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
470813703
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Omaha, NE, USA
Phone
4025952722
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Charity, Voluntarism Promotion

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,474,454
Expenses
$2,693,397
Assets
$21,733,103
Liabilities
$58,157

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AMY HADDAD (PRESIDENT)
  • SHERRYE HUTCHERSON (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • RITA STINNER (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • MAGGIE SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MAGGIE SMITH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $118,410 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Support the activities of the Nebraska arts council and the Nebraska humanities council doing business as humanities Nebraska.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Nebraska cultural endowment is the private partner in a public-private partnership with the state of Nebraska to support the arts and humanities in Nebraska. In 1998, a public fund was established at the state of Nebraska to benefit the programs and projects of the Nebraska arts council and humanities Nebraska. Each contribution to the cultural endowment is matched by the income from the public fund. The public match provides real time support of programs in the arts and humanities, and the private contributions that serve to access the match is endowed for future support of those programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 88% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 86
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.6%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.36 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 50.8%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.07; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.6% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $118K · 22 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.