Western Museums Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237312905
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Indianapolis, IN, USA
- Phone
- 7074334701
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Museum, Museum Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $309,277
- Expenses
- $306,481
- Assets
- $220,421
- Liabilities
- $36,423
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
35 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NOELLE KAHANU (PRESIDENT)
- LORIE MILLWARD (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- ROBERT CARAGHER (TREASURER)
- DAN CLEVENGER (DIRECTOR)
- CELINA COLEMAN (DIRECTOR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The western museums association is an association of museum professionals dedicated to providing training and educational programs in the states of Alaska, Arizona, califonia, Hawaii, idhao, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. The association also serves museum professionals from other states and foreign countries. Services are provided primarily by an annual conference featuring more than 50 program sessions and workshops, training opportunities conducted independently of the annual conference, and communication opportunities through our website, blog, and social media.
What it reported doing in 2025
Meetings and professional development: educates museum professionals through the associations annual meeting (conference) with more than 50 program sessions, roundtable discussions, workshops, and trade show for museum products and services.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 64% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.7%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 91.4%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 0.9%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.7% of revenue deployed · 91.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 33 of 33 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $280K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 35 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.