Charity profile · Historical source record

High Desert Museum

EIN 51-0179336Arts, Culture, Humanities Oregon Mid-sized

Historical collection: May 2019 · Rating details mostly from 2017. Source & context

The mission

What this organization describes

Wildlife and living history

The High Desert Museum's history began when founder Donald M. Kerr raised a wolf cub for his high school biology class. Originally founded in 1974 as the Western Natural History Institute, today the Museum remains true to Kerr's guiding principle that education and experience are the basis for thoughtful decisions. Opened in 1982, the Museum is dedicated to broadening the understanding of the High Desert's wildlife, culture, art and natural resources. In doing so, it strives to promote thoughtful decision making to sustain the region's natural and cultural heritage. Through exhibits, wildlife, and living history, the Museum creates learning experiences to help audiences discover their connection to the past, their role in the present, and their responsibility to the future.

Mission and tagline reproduced from the source record.

Historical scorecard

Three perspectives. One record.

95.77Overall score
out of 100

95.56Financial score
out of 100

96.00Accountability & transparency
out of 100

These are the dataset’s historical numeric fields, not a current rating or a new DonorAPI.com assessment. Read the score context ↗

Financial context

Revenue, expenses, and composition

Total revenue · USD$4,432,238

Total expenses · USD$4,747,004

Program expenses

$4,106,158.46 recorded amount

86.5%

Fundraising expenses

$398,748.34 recorded amount

8.4%

Administrative expenses

$237,350.20 recorded amount

5.0%

Fundraising efficiency: $0.16 spent per $1 raised in donations, as defined in the source.

Expense shares are displayed as percentages. Component amounts in this collection match total expenses multiplied by the source ratios; rounding can leave a small difference from the total. The source does not supply a row-specific fiscal year. Field definitions ↗

Historical leadership record

The leadership information supplied

Recorded leader: Dana Whitelaw
Recorded compensation: $104,859.00
Recorded compensation percentage: 2.20%

These fields do not establish the current officeholder or current compensation. The metadata does not specify the denominator of the leader compensation percentage. Read with context ↗

Inspect all 23 original source fields

Exact source strings are retained below, including numeric precision. A blank value is marked as not reported; zero remains zero.

All 23 original fields for High Desert Museum
Source field	Original source value
`ascore` Accountability & transparency score	96.0
`category` Category	Arts, Culture, Humanities
`description` Mission & description	The High Desert Museum's history began when founder Donald M. Kerr raised a wolf cub for his high school biology class. Originally founded in 1974 as the Western Natural History Institute, today the Museum remains true to Kerr's guiding principle that education and experience are the basis for thoughtful decisions. Opened in 1982, the Museum is dedicated to broadening the understanding of the High Desert's wildlife, culture, art and natural resources. In doing so, it strives to promote thoughtful decision making to sustain the region's natural and cultural heritage. Through exhibits, wildlife, and living history, the Museum creates learning experiences to help audiences discover their connection to the past, their role in the present, and their responsibility to the future.
`ein` EIN	51-0179336
`tot_exp` Total expenses	4747004.0
`admin_exp_p` Administrative expense fraction	0.05
`fund_eff` Fundraising efficiency ($ per $1 raised)	0.16
`fund_exp_p` Fundraising expense fraction	0.084
`program_exp_p` Program expense fraction	0.865
`fscore` Financial score	95.56
`leader` Recorded leader	Dana Whitelaw
`leader_comp` Recorded leader compensation	104859.0
`leader_comp_p` Recorded leader compensation fraction	0.022000000000000002
`motto` Tagline	Wildlife and living history
`name` Charity name	High Desert Museum
`tot_rev` Total revenue	4432238.0
`score` Overall score	95.77
`state` State code	OR
`subcategory` Subcategory	Museums
`size` Source size label	mid
`program_exp` Program expenses	4106158.46
`fund_exp` Fundraising expenses	398748.336
`admin_exp` Administrative expenses	237350.2

Identity & classification

At a glance

EIN: 51-0179336
Source category: Arts, Culture, Humanities
Source subcategory: Museums
Recorded location: Oregon (OR)
Expense-based size: Mid-sized
$3.5M–$13.5M in total expenses · source label: mid

Explore alongside

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Linked by source subcategory, prioritizing the same recorded state. Not a recommendation or ranking.

A useful next step

Keep the context.

Check current organizational information separately before making a giving decision. This record does not include an official website, donation URL, or current eligibility field.

Giving research guide ↗

Source: Charity Navigator Scores Expenses Dataset, version 1, attributed to katyjqian on Kaggle. Collection: May 2019; rating details mostly from 2017. Read attribution, scope, and reuse notes.