Oakland Museum of California

What it reported doing in 2024

Core galleries and special exhibitions: in total, the museum served 180,844 visitors this year, and a membership of nearly 8,000 households. Approximately 90% of the museum's visitors are residents of the san francisco bay area, with 53% identifying as people of color. 50% of visitors experienced omca at a free or discounted rate.the museum has galleries of California history, California art, and California natural sciences to display the core collection, as well as two spaces for temporary exhibitions. The museum is continually rotating objects in its three core collections (cont. On sch. O) galleries and typically hosts two to three temporary exhibitions per year. Interdisciplinary interpretation is provided by object and thematic labels, audiovisual presentations, interactive computer and video terminals, self-guiding brochures, and facilitated experiences.in fy25, omca developed and exhibited calli: the art of xicanx peoples, which opened on june 14, 2024 and closed january 26, 2025. This major exhibition combines photography, sculpture, painting, installation, poetry, and more to collectively construct a calli, or "xicanx home" that holds the sacred stories of xicanx peoples from past to present day. Omca worked closely with several contemporary artists to create site-specific installations for the exhibition, including consuelo jimenez underwood and rafa esparza. These works are presented alongside posters from the collections of late queer chicana activist and professor margaret "margie" terrazas-santos. Omca acquired santos' poster collection, titled calli americas, in 2022. Omca also developed and exhibited born of the bear dance: dugan aguilar's photographs of native California, which opened on november 8, 2024 and closed on july 13, 2025. Indigenous photographer dugan aguilar's powerful photography documents a rich array of indigenous experiences from 1982 to 2018, from breathtaking California landscapes to native californian gatherings, ceremonies, and basket weaving. Aguilar's extensive photographic archive was gifted to omca by aguilar's family in 2022, and this exhibition was drawn from these archives, which showcase moments of profound cultural significance and unyielding vitality in contemporary indigenous californian life.omca undertakes extensive visitor evaluation to measure the impact of its programming on both individual audience members and on the community at large. When surveyed, visitors respond positively both to the museum's impact on their personal experience as well as their sense of social cohesion while visiting.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
• Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• 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; 66th 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: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -17.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.14; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings