Minnetrista Cultural Foundation Inc.

“Tom bracken george and frances ball foundation trustee funding agency for minnetrista”

“Minnetrista's articles of incorporation provide for 13 supported organizations within our 7-county primary service area. Each of the supported organizations appoints a trustee to serve on minnetrista's board of trustees, and these appointed trustees make up a majority of the board. Supported organizations include 7 community foundations, 3 universities, 1 chamber of commerce, 1 community school corporation, and 1 not-for-profit children's museum.”

“Irs form 990 was prepared with significant input from the museum's leadership team, consisting of division/department heads. The final document was prepared by the museum's auditing firm, the chief financial officer, and the president & ceo. The forms 990 and 990-t were emailed to three committees - finance & investment, trusteeship, and executive which had overarching review of the entire forms 990 and 990-t. After committee review, the entire document was made available to every trustee prior to filing.”

“All trustees, officers, key employees, and members of committees with board-designated powers are required to complete a conflict of interest statement at the beginning of the fiscal year or at the beginning of their service and annually thereafter. Individuals are provided with a list of key companies with which the museum regularly conducts business, including financial, accounting, and legal services. Disclosure statements are reviewed by the trusteeship committee. If a potential conflict is identified at the time of filing or anytime thereafter, there is a discussion with the interested person to obtain all material facts. If required, a non-interested person or committee will be appointed to investigate the potential conflict. The interested person is asked to leave the meeting during final discussions by the board or relevant committee and is not permitted to vote on the final outcome, including determination that the transaction or arrangement is in the best interest of minnetrista. Any interested person who violates the conflict of interest policy shall be subject to appropriate discipline, including removal from office. The minutes of all board and committee meetings shall include: (1) the names of persons who disclose financial interests, the nature of the financial interests and whether the board or committee determined that there was a conflict of interest; (2) the names of the persons who were present for discussions and votes relating to the transactions or arrangement; the content of these discussions, including any alternatives to the proposed transaction or arrangement; and a record of the vote.”

“The compensation of the president & ceo was established by the executive committee of the board of trustees in consultation with an executive search firm and benchmarked against the same references as for all paid staff. An annual review is conducted by the board chair; merit increases are awarded within the same parameters as described for all paid staff.”

“All paid positions at minnetrista are evaluated, using written job descriptions, against a factor evaluation system (fes). The fes was developed with a human resources professor at ball state university and places each position into a salary grade. Salary ranges are benchmarked against the most recent biennial wage and salary survey published by the american alliance of museums. This publication categorizes benchmarks by: geographic region, museum type (art, history, science, etc.), and budget size of the institutions. Annual and quarterly reviews are conducted for each paid staff position and merit raises of 0% to 4% may be awarded.”

“All governing documents, policy documents, and financial statements are available for public inspection upon written request to the chief financial officer or the president & ceo. In addition, an annual report that includes the audited statement of financial position is mailed to all staff members and donors. The irs forms 990 and 990-t are also provided to guidestar for online posting.”

“Visible storage exhibits in the heritage collection gallery feature artifacts from the minnetrista heritage collection. In 2018, artifacts, including games; local products; fruit jars; decorative arts; clothing; ball family china, commemorative plates, artwork, and personal items; and more, were rotated throughout the year. The minnetrista heritage collection includes artifacts, art, and archival material that document the people, places, organizations, events, and businesses and industries of east central indiana. A major component of the collection is ball family material and ball corporation business records. Several acquisitions received in 2018 enhance the existing ball business collection and included ball-made products such as fruit jars, packer jars, acrylic products, and a sound guard record preservation kit. Other ball- related artifacts include blue books, film strips, advertising material, memorabilia (belt buckle, yo-yos, paperweight, etc.), and archival material. Ball archival and photographic materials include a photograph of george a. Ball on his 90th birthday and watercolor paintings by margaret ball petty. Other collections include materials that document organizations (riley-jones club, ymca, ball memorial hospital, community foundation of muncie and delaware county, etc.); people and families; businesses and industry; and schools (muncie community schools, burris laboratory school, yorktown schools, and mooreland high school). A collection of particular importance includes photographs, documents, correspondence, artifacts, and ephemera that document the lives of artists j. Ottis adams and his wife, winifred brady adams. The minnetrista heritage collection, both on-site and on-line, is also a destination for researchers. In 2018, there were more than 155 research requests and 40 requests for information about canning jars. By the end of the year, there were more than 7,500 artifacts; 21,500 photographs; and 2,400 archival records from the minnetrista heritage collection on-line. There were approximately 20,000 searches of the on-line collection.”

“As a member of the healthy community alliance, minnetrista partners with indiana university health - ball memorial hospital to provide special nutrition classes and "market bucks" for low income, at-risk families. Minnetrista is pleased to host many important community meetings and events, including: black history month kick-off celebration, muncie community schools' annual celebrating excellence student recognition event and display, and board meetings for the muncie action plan and muncie arts and culture council. Minnetrista is also the regular meeting site for a dozen regional hobby groups and service organizations including: rotary, altrusa, muncie artists guild, fruit jar collectors, and master gardeners. Through partnerships, minnetrista was able to bring exciting opportunities to the community including: flags of honor with the exchange club of muncie, in literacy festival with the indiana department of education, nature play days with the indiana children & nature network, and summer performances by muncie symphony orchestra and american's hometown band.”

“Other program services: the breakdown of the remaining 760,695 in program expenses is as follows: 555,412 depreciation expense; 142,869 it expense; 62,414 advertising.”

“Retail shop & rental operating expenses reclassed to cogs 518,960 retail shop & rental operating expenses reclassed to cogs -518,960”