The Newark Museum Association

“The board of trustees of the museum establishes the classes of members, and the member's qualifications, privileges and duties.”

“The museum's members elect the museum's trustees other than the ex-officio trustees.”

“Amendments to the bylaws are approved by the museum's members, and under the new jersey non-profit corporation act, certain significant transactions require member's approval such as merger, consolidation and dissolution.”

“The newark museum has its form 990 prepared by an outside accounting firm and has established the following review process to ensure that the information reported is complete and accurate. When the form 990 has been prepared, reviewed by management, reviewed by the museum's outside legal council, and is ready to be filed with the internal revenue service it is electronically sent to all the museum's trustees for any comments. Any comments are then group, summarized and provided to the outside accountants. Each issue is documented and addressed until the return is finalized and approved by the museum's trustees for filing.”

“The museum's conflict of interest policy is reviewed periodically, by the board of trustees. The board of trustees, committee members, and officers of the museum complete annual conflict and related party questionnaires. The museum's conflict of interest policy requires that trustees and officers disclose conflicts. After disclosure of the financial interest and all material facts, and after any discussion with the interested person, he/she shall leave the board of trustees or committee meeting while the determination of a conflict of interest is disclosed and voted upon. The remaining board or committee members shall decide if a conflict of interest exists. An interested person may make a presentation at the board of trustees or committee meeting, but after the presentation, he/she shall leave the meeting during the discussion of, and the vote on, the transaction or arrangement involving the possible conflict of interest. The chairperson of the board of trustees or committee shall, if appropriate, appoint a disinterested person or committee to investigate alternatives to the proposed transaction or arrangement. After exercising due diligence, the board of trustees or committee shall determine whether the museum can and/or should obtain with reasonable efforts a more advantageous transaction or arrangement from a person or entity that would not give rise to a conflict of interest. If a more advantageous transaction or arrangement is not appropriate or reasonably possible under circumstances not producing a conflict of interest, the board of trustees or committee shall determine by a majority vote of the disinterested trustees whether the transaction or arrangement is in the museum's best interest, for its own benefit, and whether it is fair and reasonable. In conformity with the above determination it shall make its decision as to whether to enter into the transaction or arrangement. The minutes of the board of trustees and all committees shall contain: 1. The names of the persons who disclosed or otherwise were found to have a financial interest in connection with an actual or possible conflict of interest, the nature of the financial interest, any action taken to determine whether a conflict of interest was present, and the board of trustees' or committee's decision as to whether a conflict of interest in fact existed. 2. The names of the persons who were present for discussions and votes relating to the transaction or arrangement, the content of the discussion, including any alternatives to the proposed transaction or arrangement, and a record of any votes taken in connection with the proceedings.”

“The museum conducts a detailed review of compensation for its direct/ceo, top management official, other officers and key employees ensures that the compensation levels compare with art museums in historic districts across the country. As part of this process the museum also considers published compensation surveys and compensation information included in forms 990 filed by other art museums. This information is reviewed by the compensation sub-committee of the executive committee of the board of trustees (as more particularly set forth in the museum's bylaws), when then approves any changes in compensation. Contemporaneous substantiation of these deliberations and decisions are accomplished through minutes of the committee's meeting.”

“The museum makes its form 990 available for public inspection as required under section 6104 of the internal revenue code. The return is posted on guidestar.org and other similar types of websites. In addition, the form 990 as well as the form 1023 are available upon written request or by calling the museum directly.”

“The museum makes its financial statements, conflict of interest policy, certificate of incorporation, and bylaws available upon written request by calling the museum directly.”

“Statement of program service accomplishments: the museum is renowned for its thoughtful approach to collecting and presentation, connecting objects in its collections to the cultural needs of its communities, producing interdisciplinary projects in the humanities and sciences, and making important connections across traditional collecting areas. The largest in new jersey, the museum is home to extraordinary encyclopedic collections in the arts. A century after its founding, the museum is now custodian to over 110,000 objects in the departments of american art, asian art, african art, decorative arts, ancient mediterranean art, numismatics and the largest natural science collection in the state of new jersey. The museum's goals and objectives are guided by its mission, which mandates that: the newark museum, as it has since its founding, operates in the public trust as a museum of service, a leader in connecting objects and ideas to the needs and wishes of its constituencies. We believe that our art and science collections have the power to educate, inspire and transform individuals of all ages and the local, regional, national and international communities we serve. In the words of the founding director, john cotton dana, "a good museum attracts, entertains, arouses curiosity, leads to questioning - and thus promotes learning." dedicated to artistic excellence, education and community engagement, the museum has evinced a historic commitment to broadening, deepening and diversifying arts participation. The museum accomplishes its mission exhibitions, educational and public programs, publications, and art reference library. By collaborating with other public and private educational, social, cultural, business and governmental institutions, the museum achieves a broad impact. The museum devotes a substantial portion of its facilities to youth, family and school programs and ensures that its educational resources, collections and facilities are readily accessible to a broad audience representing diverse interests, ages and backgrounds. Nearly two out of three members of the museum's annual audience are engaged by an educational program. The museum has consistently been cited for excellence in exhibition and education initiatives by government authorities, national funding sources and professional associations. The museum's distinguished collections are presented in eighty galleries housed on a seven-acre campus of seven buildings in the center of one of america's oldest cities. The campus encompasses the ballantine house, which is a national historic landmark, the dreyfuss memorial garden, the newark fire museum, the 1784 lyons farms schoolhouse and the recently completed horizon plaza, a welcoming streetscape/plaza with greenery, dynamic lighting, and a potentially a major public art installation. The transformation of this busy perimeter area is a major institutional objective of the signature campaign for sustainability and growth, the board approved plan that address the operating requirements of the museum with the context of a focus on the african art collection, building infrastructure needs for collections, including storage and parking garage facility, as well as operating support for working capital and endowment.”

“In 2013 the marketing department at the newark museum collaborated with berkley college on a program to recognize the selfless sacrifices of u.s. Military veterans and their families. We partnered with horizon, the house of mandela wines and the elbow room to create a summer solstice music event to promote the art/science exhibition african cosmos: stellar arts. We reached out into the community, specifically newark's south street elementary school and facilitated their presentation of a bottle cap recycling work of art entitled: starry night. Special town days were promoted in order to provide area residents with special incentives to visit while the collaboration with rutgers university, field station dinosaurs and dinosaur bbq restaurant yielded a family audience in excess of 5,000 people at the museum. Collaborations with casa don pedro, the brooklyn jewish children's museum, rocky mountain chocolate factory and star ledger helped to create many museum programs which resonated with the communities we serve and their attendance by the thousands at these events validated the museum's relevance.”

“The museum has an audit committee which monitors the audit process and ensures compliance with the system of internal controls, and applicable laws. The audit committee also monitors the selection, independence and performance of external auditors and facilitates the communication process between the external auditors and management and the board of trustees. This process did not change from the prior year.”