Musical Instrument Museum: $15.4M Revenue, $18.5M Expenses

Musical Instrument Museum pulls a D on the efficiency rubric. The composite of 35/100 reflects below-median performance on the bundle of factors — typically driven by thin operating reserves, volatile revenue, or outsized officer compensation relative to organizational size.

At $15.4M in 2015 revenue, Musical Instrument Museum sits in the mid-range of the U.S. nonprofit distribution. Most organizations of this scale operate regionally or focus on a single program area. On the financial-health factor, Musical Instrument Museum runs thin — assets relative to annual spending fall below the cushion nonprofit-finance experts typically recommend.

Revenue has declined meaningfully over the five-year filing window — a pattern that warrants attention to underlying funding sustainability. Musical Instrument Museum's 2015 revenue is materially below its earlier filings. Current-officer compensation is not separately reported in the filing — typical for nonprofits where leadership is paid through a related entity (parent system, university, or foundation) rather than the filing organization itself, or for small organizations whose chief is a volunteer or board member. Musical Instrument Museum sits in the cultural-nonprofit sector (Arts, Culture & Humanities). Museum, performing-arts, and cultural organizations carry distinctive financial patterns — earned revenue from ticket sales and admissions, plus a heavy reliance on endowment income and major donor cycles.