The Charleston Museum

What it reported doing in 2024

Exhibition, Interpretation and Facilities Operations: Through exhibition and interpretation of its collections, The Charleston Museum seeks to educate the general public about the natural and cultural history of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Staff do this through permanent and special temporary exhibitions at the main Museum facility and by presenting tours of the Museum's two National Historic Landmark houses, the Heyward-Washington House (c. 1772) and Joseph Manigault House (c. 1803). Permanent exhibits present a comprehensive overview of regional history, while temporary exhibits focus on diverse aspects of Lowcountry heritage and feature infrequently shown artifacts. Together, these exhibits display over 5,400 objects from the collections. In 2024, the Museum opened "Beyond the Ashes: The Lowcountry's New Beginnings" in its galleries, which completes its permanent exhibition. The new exhibit covers the Reconstruction era to the 21st century, and includes a number of collection pieces that have not been exhibited before as well as recent acquisitions related to the area's Civil Rights movement. The Museum's Bunting Natural History Gallery, which opened in 2017, provides a wide-ranging overview of area natural history using fossils, casts, animal mounts, geologic examples, and botany specimens from the Museum's extensive collections. A major highlight of the gallery is a complete skeleton of Pelagornis sandersi, the world's largest known flying bird to have ever existed, cast from the original fossils in the Museum's collections. Guests who visit the Museum now experience regional cultural history from Native Peoples to the 21st century and natural history from 400 million years ago to the current epoch. Museum curatorial and exhibits staff also regularly update existing exhibits to ensure that historical interpretation is consistent with current research and terminology. Accordingly, in 2018-2019, staff renovated exhibits related to rice culture, the Revolutionary War, antebellum era, and the Civil War to incorporate the most recent research, provide a more inclusive interpretation, and better present key artifacts, and in 2021, they installed updated or new interpretation related to the abolitionist Grimke sisters, the Denmark Vesey rebellion, and the forced removal of Native Peoples from the southeastern United States. During 2024, the Museum's archaeology curator, in compliance with NAGPRA, worked closely with representatives from Native tribes to ensure that artifacts from Indigenous Peoples were appropriate for display and did not contain materials related to Native burials. In 2022, the Museum implemented an audio tour for its Heyward-Washington House, which places particular focus on the enslaved people who resided and labored at the house throughout its colonial, Revolutionary, and antebellum history. In 2024, the Museum was awarded a grant to produce a Revolutionary War focused version of the tour, which will launch in 2025, in advance of the 2026 commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 2023 marked the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Museum, and the Museum published a book centered on its history, its collections, and historic properties, which has sold over 70% of its initial print run. The Museum welcomed 116,108 visitors to its three primary sites in 2024. Guests visit the Museum from every county in South Carolina, every state in the U.S., and over 50 countries around the world. Attendance in 2024 was down from its anniversary year in 2023 but is still 10% above the 4-year pre-pandemic average.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 78.4%; rating input score 78
• Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
• Fundraising efficiency: $45.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • 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: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • 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: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 20.1%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.15; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 6.5%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings