San Diego Museum Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953124579
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
6199574660
Rating
59
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$274,748
Expenses
$267,207
Assets
$233,317
Liabilities
$55,525

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jim Kempton (President)
  • Lauren Lockhard (Vice President)
  • Laura Mitchell (President Emeri)

Highest reported compensation

  • Bob Lehman (Executive Dir.): $99,169 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

San Diego Museum Council is the only organization singularly focused on promotingSan Diego County museums year-round. We connect museums and cultural institutionswith visitors and each other through cooperative marketing and peer-to-peernetworking events.

What it reported doing in 2024

. San Diego Museum Council produced Museum Month, a promotional and accessibility campaign to promote its network of more than 80 San Diego museums and cultural institutions during February, typically an off-peak month for museum admissions. In February, more than 110,000 people attended museums as a result of the campaign. A second campaign was produced in October, offering admission discounts to families with kids ages 12 and under. More than 100,000 people participated in Kids Free during October. San Diego Museum Council also provided year-round services to its 80+ member organizations including marketing support, professional development, networking meetings, and cooperative marketing.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 74% for direct work, and 26% for member benefits.

The verdict

MIXED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 77.5%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.7%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 37.1%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.4% of revenue deployed · 77.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 12 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $207K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.