Spanish Colonial Arts Society

Legal name: The Spanish Colonial Arts Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
856011544
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Fe, NM, USA
Phone
(505) 982-2226
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$329,069
Expenses
$568,163
Assets
$3,124,711
Liabilities
$42,633

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER BERKLEY (EXECUTIVE DI): $81,668 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To collect and showcase the historic and contemporary heritage arts of New Mexico alongside select historic pieces from around the world to place these regional heritage arts in a global context.

What it reported doing in 2024

As part of our strategic plan, we transitioned organizational stewardship of traditional spanish market to the atrisco heritage foundation. After hosting spanish market for 70 years, we were pleased that atrisco successfully hosted the 71st market on the santa fe plaza, which they continued to offer free and open to the public. In our ongoing effort to serve as a resource for the public, we instituted a policy of year-round free admission to our museum for all members of the public. We continued to offer tours of our museum and our collection and continued to hold various arts classes and demonstrations with a focus on traditional new mexican art forms. We changed the name of our museum to better reflect the contents of our collection: nuevo mexicano heritage arts museum. Visitation has increased significantly as tourists and the public alike are curious about and attracted to the new name. The name of our organization, the spanish colonial arts society, remains the same.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.

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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 58.6%; rating input score 59
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -72.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.5; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -11.4% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.4% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 58.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $333K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.