California · Nonprofit
MUSEUM ASSOCIATES
MUSEUM ASSOCIATES (California) receives grants from 337 organizations whose IRS filings report $202,325,526 to it, the largest being THE STEVE TISCH FAMILY FOUNDATION ($17,525,000). 205 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $235M
- Funders on record
- 337
- Grants received
- $202M
- Net assets
- $1.1B
What Museum Associates does
Mission
To serve the public through the collection, conservation, exhibition and interpretation of significant works of art from a broad range of cultures and historical periods, and through translation of these collections into meaningful educational, aesthetic, intellectual and cultural experiences for the widest array of audiences. The los angeles county museum of art (the "museum") is the premier encyclopedic art museum in the western united states. The museum's collection of over 150,000 artworks from around the world spans the history of art, from ancient to contemporary times, including especially strong collections of asian, latin american, european, and american art. Through its varied collections, the museum is both a resource to and a reflection of the many cultural communities and heritages in southern california and throughout the world. This fiscal year, the museum presented 16 exhibitions and permanent collection installations, acquired 315 new works of art, provided programs for 17,995 school children. Total attendance at the museum was 815,164.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibition, curatorial, conservation & art programs:lacma presented 16 exhibitions and permanent collection installations in fiscal 2024-2025, featuring artworks from its own collection and from lenders around the world. Public programs, films, and concerts are developed in coordination with special exhibitions. Many works from the museum's collection of over 150,000 objects are treated by conservators, while the museum's research library and scholarly publications provide reference support to museum staff and outside scholars. All of these activities serve to meet the goals of conservation, exhibition and interpretation of art into meaningful aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences.
$52,264,450 spentof which $395,921 as grants$1,440,580 earned by the program50% of program spendingFacility enhancement:in fiscal 2024-2025, lacma continued work towards a major, new museum building. Most of these costs were capitalized and are not reflected on this line. This category of expense also reflects financing and depreciation expense representing amortization of the capitalized costs of constructing the museum's physical facilities, an activity that is one of the core reasons Museum Associates was founded.
$18,447,184 spent18% of program spendingArt acquisition:works of art in all media, from every historical period, and from every corner of the globe are purchased to enhance the museum's permanent collection. Such additions contribute to the museum's goal of collecting significant works of art from a broad range of cultures and eras.expenses reflect funds paid by the museum for the acquisition of artwork during the year, but do not reflect the value of gifts of art. Revenues represent the proceeds of deaccessions from the permanent collection received during the fiscal year, which, in accordance with museum policy, are restricted for the future acquisition of artworks.
$15,475,056 spent$305,884 earned by the program15% of program spendingThe museum collects works of art in all media, from every historical period, and from every corner of the globe to enhance its permanent collection. Expenses reflect funds paid by the museum for the acquisition of art works, but do not reflect the value of in-kind gifts of art. The museum offers many educational outreach programs in local schools and on-site for children and teens as well as classes and other programs and interpretive materials for college students and adults.
$18,981,948 spent$86,315,120 earned by the program18% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $105,168,638.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.7B to $1.8B (+9%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 2% · 2022 6% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of MUSEUM ASSOCIATES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (56% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Michael Govan
CEO and wallis annenberg director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 102 funders to 117 funders, grant income rose $11M → $31M.
22 of 337 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $10M from 14 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles). These are real filings, and they are not money MUSEUM ASSOCIATES raised.
From the IRS filings of MUSEUM ASSOCIATES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 337 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
MUSEUM ASSOCIATES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 9% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 23% · 2019 13% · 2020 14% · 2021 17% · 2022 22% · 2023 17% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
38% of MUSEUM ASSOCIATES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
52% of MUSEUM ASSOCIATES's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
MUSEUM ASSOCIATES runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding MUSEUM ASSOCIATES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.8M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$2.0M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.1M
- National Science Foundation$369k
- National Endowment for the Arts$300k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MUSEUM ASSOCIATES
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Crt · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MUSEUM ASSOCIATES: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MUSEUM ASSOCIATES?
- MUSEUM ASSOCIATES (California) receives grants from 337 organizations whose IRS filings report $202,325,526 to it, the largest being THE STEVE TISCH FAMILY FOUNDATION ($17,525,000). 205 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MUSEUM ASSOCIATES have?
- IRS filings report 337 organizations giving $202,325,526 in grants to MUSEUM ASSOCIATES, 205 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MUSEUM ASSOCIATES?
- THE STEVE TISCH FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $17,525,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MUSEUM ASSOCIATES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 337 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing