Nonprofit Comic-Con Reports Nearly $10 Million Cash in the Bank

Updated at 10:30 a.m. March 26, 2012

With nearly $10 million in the bank, Comic-Con had a good year in 2010. Not bad for a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.

In its most recent tax filing—submitted to the IRS in July 2011—the San Diego Comic Convention reported gross receipts of $10.16 million and expenses of $9.1 million. (See attached PDF.)

Based in La Mesa, with nondescript offices on Allison Avenue in The Village, Comic-Con had net assets of about $8.84 million as of Aug, 31, 2010, according to its Form 990 filing.

But the “nonprofit educational corporation promoting comics and related popular art forms,” as Comic-Con describes itself, said it had $9,999,107 cash on its books at the end of the 2010 reporting period.

The largest share of its revenues ($5 million) came from the sale of memberships—tickets to Comic-Con and related events, such as WonderCon, which this year was held March 16-18 in Anaheim, and the Alternative Press Expo. Other revenues ($4.7 million) came from trade show income and  sponsorships—fees paid by vendors for space in the San Diego Convention Center.

Comic-Con also reported that Maija Gates, daughter of Comic-Con executive director Dona Fae Desmond was paid $65,616 in the 2010 reporting period, and Colleen O’Connell, wife of Comic-Con treasurer Mark Yturralde, was paid $69,501.

The highest paid employee of Comic-Con was Desmond, earning $93,038 while working a reported 50 hours a week.

An email inquiry to Comic-Con about its latest tax filing has not been answered.

Original story of June 15, 2011:

Avoiding a cliffhanger ending, Comic-Con met a city deadline of June 2 to submit an application for a business license—after operating on Allison Avenue five years without one.

According to city records, the San Diego Comic Convention—with offices at 8330-8340 Allison Ave.—is doing business as “Comic-Con International & WonderCon & APE.”

Its business license was issued May 25.

But Jolene Cayas, the La Mesa’s business license officer, said Comic-Con paid no fees with its license.

That’s because the operation—which prepares for the world-renowned July convention at the San Diego Convention Center—is considered “exempt” from fees since it is legally a nonprofit organization, meeting IRS rules for tax-exempt status. It pays no state or federal taxes.

Comic-Con—a 501(c)(3) organization—files annual Form 990 reports listing its revenues, expenses, director and employee compensation as well as the mission that qualifies it as a nonprofit.

According to the latest Form 990 available—filed in July 2010 for the tax year ending Aug. 31, 2009—Comic-Con “is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.”

Comic-Con had revenues that year of $9.17 million and expenses of $8.21 million for an “excess … for the year” of $955,456, according to IRS filings (attached).

The operation’s executive director, Dona Fae Desmond, made $84,742 that year, averaging 50 hours a week. Among its directors, President John Rogers was paid $18,000 for workweeks averaging 9 hours. Vice President Robin Donlan made $14,418 for 14-hour workweeks.  

Comic-Con has had nonprofit status since 1975, which is well-known.

But since nonprofits generally have some charitable purpose, Comic-Con has raised eyebrows for years.

Says the Internal Revenue Service page on such nonprofits:

Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. ... The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization’s net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

A San Diego Union-Tribune report of July 27, 2007, quoted Sandra Miniutti, a vice president for Charity Navigator, as saying:  “It is a real stretch to call a group whose purpose is to promote comics via a highly commercialized event a charity. How does that benefit the greater good of society?”

The same article, by John Wilkens, quoted Daniel Borochoff of the American Institute of Philanthropy as saying: “The people who appear to be profiting are the pop-culture purveyors who have a great marketing opportunity there.”

David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for the convention, told the U-T in 2007 that being a charity “allows us to return any money made back into our event.”

He told Preston Turegano the same thing four days earlier in a San Diego Business Journal article: “Whatever we have left over after expenses always goes back into the organization to help prepare for the next convention.”

Comic-Con had about $3.8 million in net assets in 2007, according to the U-T report.

In its latest filing, say tax filings, Comic-Con’s net assets were $7.78 million.

La Mesa’s business license fee is $35 plus $3 per employee.