Cleveland Institute of Art
Legal name: The Cleveland Institute of Art
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 340714334
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Cleveland, OH, USA
- Phone
- 216.421.7418
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $46,109,243
- Expenses
- $39,395,906
- Assets
- $128,787,251
- Liabilities
- $29,654,757
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
48 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KATHRYN HEIDEMANN (PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- KATHRYN HEIDEMANN (PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR): $383,312 total reported compensation
- GREG WATTS (PROVOST, VP ACAD): $199,162 total reported compensation
- MARIE-LOUISE GUSTAVSSON-MONAGO (VP INSTITUTIONAL ADV): $180,051 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Cleveland Institute of Art is dedicated to cultivating creative leaders who inspire people, strengthen communities and contribute to a thriving and sustainable economy through an innovative education in art and design.
What it reported doing in 2024
Cleveland institute of art is one of the nation's leading accredited independent colleges of art and design. Since 1882, the college has been an educational and cultural cornerstone in cleveland, Ohio, producing graudates competitive as studio artists, designers, photographers, contemporary craftspeople and educators. Students earn a bachelor of fine arts degree upon successful completion of the program. The undergraduate program had 545 students enrolled in the fall of 2024.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 64% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 57% for direct work, and 43% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 88
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.1%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 87.6%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 28th 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: 14.6%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.27; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 76.1% of revenue deployed · 87.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 34 of 36 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $34.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $383K · 48 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.4M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.