Ruskin Art Club Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Support for pioneering arts initiatives, arts education, with new generations of Southland Artists and thinkers. The study and promotion of cultural art, history, literature, and contemporary affairs, non-partisan and related to civic interest and matters beneficial to community welfare. The operational mission includes programs of public lectures, concerts, exhibitions, readings and symposia on issues of public interest; networking and pursuing common projects with other community arts associations in the Southland; networking and pursuing common projects with and providing a public forum for historical and conservation associations in the Southland.
- Income
- $78,461
- Spending
- $68,201
- Spent on programs
- 62%
- Reserves
- Over 10 years of spending
- Largest source of income
- investment income, 87%
- Employees
- 2
- Highest pay
- $32,104, executive dir.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 85 out of 100. Higher than 66% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, under $250k).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover more than ten years of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 13% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 26% on the year before.
Spending floor
0 of 1562% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 52 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Fair: 65 out of 100. Higher than 60% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, under $250k).
Independent board
25 of 2512 of 12 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
0 of 15Reports no written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $41,991 spent. RUSKIN ART CLUB EVENTS: FISCAL 2023-2024Through mounting virtual in addition to live, in-person events, we have been able to expand and diversify audiences served by our events. Attendees come from Southern California and the West, but also from the East Coast and abroad. Membership in the organization has also expanded to include members across the United States and the UK.In addition, we launched our Ruskin Art Club YouTube channel in 2021, which archives all our current programs and many from the recent past as a service both to members and friends and as an ongoing resource for the public. It is available on our website: www.ruskinartclub.org. The channel expands the outreach of our activities to online subscribers and YouTube audiences. We currently post more than 100 events, lectures, and presentations on our channel. To indicate the extent of our outreach to the public, I have added the current number of YouTube views to Zoom and in-person attendance figures.JULY-AUGUSTField trips: [in person]Saturday, August 24, 2-5pm: Judson Studios TourWork in Progress: Pagoda by James JeanFee: $20Attendance: 60Expenses: $0Income: $1,200 (memberships): (2) $150SEPTEMBERFriday, Sept. 6: Apricot Lane Farms private tour [in person]9-11am, fee: $35Expenses: $1,200Attendance: 15Income: $310 + 2 memberships: $225 = $535Saturdays, September 7&14, 10-11:30am [Zoom]Study sessions: (thematic) America in Ruskins writingsAttendance: 12Expenses: $0Saturday, Sept. 21, 9-10:30am [PDT] Annual Ruskin Lifetime Achievement Award (with Ruskin Society of North America): Robert Hewison Tribute [Zoom]Attendance: 30Expenses: $0Income: $0YouTube: 928 viewsOCTOBERFriday, October 4 (evening) Saturday, Oct. 5 (morning/afternoon)RUSKIN IN AMERICA ConferenceFriday, Oct. 4: Keynote address at Telescope Studio with receptionSaturday, Oct. 5: Doheny Library all day (with lunch), 10am-4:30pm. Six presentations and a panel discussion.For a man who never set foot in America, John Ruskin, at the turn of the twentieth century, wielded an outsized influence on art, environmental, and social movements in this country. This is a fact often underappreciated in assessments of Ruskin's global impact. From the American Pre-Raphaelites to utopian social experiments in Florida, Georgia, and California, Ruskin's vision inspired many facets of American idealism and social reform. This conference, the first of its kind, will explore Ruskin's contributions to American movements, thinkers, and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries and suggest ways in which he speaks to the issues of American life today.List of speakers:Gabriel Meyer keynote, Ruskin and the California DreamSara Atwood, Over-hopefulness and getting on-ness: Ruskin, Nature, and America Virginia Anderson: The Artist Is a Telescope: John Ruskin, Charles Herbert Moore, and the American Pre-Raphaelite MovementGray Brechin, Ruskins Influence on Franklin Roosevelts New DealSharon Weltman, Thinking Ecologically with Ruskin, or How Women Will Save the WorldAttendance: 50Expenses: $1,892.15Income: (2 memberships): $300YouTube: 432 views (total)Saturday, October 19: LA Archives Bazaar (USC), all dayExpenses: $1,000Income: $0NOVEMBERNovember 9 & 16, 9-10:30am [PST]: Study sessions: The Mystery of Life and Its Arts with Rachel DickinsonAttendance: 27Expenses: $0Income: (3 memberships, $300)YouTube: 129/639 viewsWednesday, Nov. 20 (Fogg Fellows), 12:30-1:30pm [EST]: Marjorie Cohn: Ruskin and the Origins of Art History at Harvard [Zoom]The Ruskin Art Club has received a very special invitation to join the Fellows of the Fogg Museum at Harvard University on a ZOOM event, a lecture by Dr. Marjorie Cohn about Ruskin and the beginnings of the museum and the teaching of art history as a result of the friendship of John Ruskin and Harvard President Charles Eliot Norton.2025JANUARYSaturday, January 18, 10-11:30am [PST]: Marjorie Cohn: John Ruskin, James Whistler, and the Ghost of Turner [Zoom]The artist James Whistler sued the critic John Ruskin for libel in 1878 after Ruskin disparaged his work in a July 1877 issue of his newsletter, Fors Clavigera. The resulting trial laid bare swiftly changing aesthetic perceptions at the end of the 19th century. While Whistler won the legal case, he was bankrupted by court costs. Heading to Venice to nurse his wounds, he found, paradoxically, in the city Ruskin worshiped, the materials for an extraordinarily original series of Venetian drawings and etchings.Attendance: 35Expenses: $0Income: $0YouTube: 258 viewsFEBRUARYSaturday, February 8, 7-8:30pm, ANNUAL RUSKIN BIRTHDAY BASH at Telescope Studio in downtown LA [in person]Poets David St. John and Lynne Thompson read from recent work and Tiffany Chang, violin, Allan Hon, cello, and Alex Zhu, piano perform the music of Mozart, Meyer, and Ruskin. Festive reception follows.Attendance: 50Expenses: $1,250Income: 5 memberships: $450 Saturdays, February 15 and 22, 9-10:30am [PST], Study Sessions: The Stones of Venice [Zoom]This year we will examine passages from all three volumes Ruskin's 1853 masterwork, The Stones of Venice. We will be joined and most ably assisted in these sessions by scholars from the FORS Center at Ca' Foscari University based in "La Serenissima" herself.Attendance: 20Expenses: $0Income: $0 MARCHSaturday, March 8, 1:30-3:30pm, in association with the California Art Club, Pasadena (in person): Mountain Gloom/Mountain Glory: John Ruskin and John Muir, lecture by Gabriel MeyerGabriel Meyer examines the ways Ruskins ideas influenced pioneering naturalist John Muir (1838-1914) and American environmentalism at the turn of the 20th century.Thursday, March 13, 7-8:30pm, Wende Museum (Culver City), in person and livestream. ANNUAL ADA LOUISE HUXTABLE LECTURE ON ARCHITECTURE: Work Done with Pleasure and Free Work: John Ruskin and Sergio Ferro, presentation by Claudio Silveira AlmaralAttendance: 60Expenses: $1,000Income: 2 memberships: $225YouTube: 207 viewsSaturdays, March 22 and 29, 10-11:30am [PST], Study Se
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since March 1942.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.