The Great Lakes Childrens Museum

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
383430004
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Traverse City, MI, USA
Phone
2319324526
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's Museums

Reported finances

Revenue
$523,555
Expenses
$458,330
Assets
$155,589
Liabilities
$36,995

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tracie MacPherson (Executive Director)
  • Mel Drumm (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Tracie MacPherson (Executive Director): $65,320 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 museum celebrates learning through play. Exhibits and programs focus on developing self-direction, problem solving, logic and creativity skills in children (particularly ages 1-8) and their caregivers.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Museum provided hands-on, open ended, playbased learning to thousands of children and caregivers in the last year. Curiosity Place is now open in our new location. This exciting new location brings the Museums mission to life through hands-on educational play, engaging programs, summer camps, birthday parties and more. Families can explore the Power of Play Store, featuring fun and educational toys. Curiosity Place is a vibrant, welcoming space where curiosity leads the way and children of all ages can explore, imagine and discover.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.3%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.5%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.3%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -8.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.3% of revenue deployed · 88.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $406K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.