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The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
MOCA opened in 1979 as a artist-driven alternative to LA's established museums, founded by a group of working artists who wanted an institution run by and for...
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
MOCA opened in 1979 as a artist-driven alternative to LA's established museums, founded by a group of working artists who wanted an institution run by and for their community. Its initial collection was built almost entirely through artist donations. Wealth origin traces not to a single family but to patron philanthropy, most notably the late Eli Broad, who rescued the institution from financial crisis in 2008 with a $30M pledge and served as founding chairman and life trustee. Today, the board includes Carolyn Clark Powers as chair and Tim Disney as president. MOCA allocates across three asset classes. On the real estate side, it owns and operates two architecturally significant commercial properties in downtown Los Angeles: the Arata Isozaki-designed MOCA Grand Avenue and the Frank Gehry-renovated Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo. Its de facto investment portfolio is the permanent collection, built over four decades to hold roughly 7,000 works with particular depth in post-1960s American and European art, including major holdings of Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Cindy Sherman. A third allocation is the endowment, managed to fund operations and acquisitions, with grants from foundations like the Broad Foundation consistently bolstering its capacity. Scale rests on its collection and facilities rather than disclosed AUM. MOCA operates on an annual budget estimated at $20M to $30M per public record, supported by its endowment and contributions from high-net-worth trustees who function as de facto limited partners. Adjacent structures include the North American Reciprocal Museum program, which pools the membership bases of participating museums for shared patron access. In July 2025, the board named Carolyn Clark Powers chair, replacing Maria Seferian, with Tim Disney stepping into the president role. MOCA's structural differentiator is its artist-founded governance model, which embeds curatorial independence into institutional architecture. Unlike museums born from a single collection or donor mandate, MOCA was built by a collective of practitioners with no pre-existing fortune, making it uniquely reliant on sustained access to networks of working artists and a board expected to actively acquire and fund exhibitions rather than simply steward an inherited trove. This produces an unusually nimble acquisition posture for an institution of its stature.
General information
Firm type
Foundation
Year founded
1979
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Los Angeles
Corporate office
250 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States
Principals
Johanna Burton
The Maurice Marciano Director
Carolyn Clark Powers
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Tim Disney
President of the Board of Trustees
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at MOCA?
Investment decisions are not structured like a family office or venture firm. The director, Johanna Burton, holds curatorial and operational authority, while acquisition funds and endowment oversight are governed by the board of trustees, chaired by Carolyn Clark Powers. No single investment committee is publicly delineated; capital allocation for acquisitions runs through curatorial staff with board-level approvals.
How does MOCA source assets for its collection?
Sourcing is predominantly relationship-driven through the artist community and gallery networks, a legacy of the museum's 1979 founding by working artists. The permanent collection grew largely through direct donations from artists and their estates, supplemented by board-funded acquisitions. This artist-first pipeline distinguishes it from museums built around a single donor's pre-collected holdings.
Is MOCA structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a foundation?
MOCA is a public nonprofit institution, not a family office. It functions as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with a board-governed endowment. Unlike a single-family office, there is no underlying family wealth source; rather, it aggregates philanthropic capital from multiple high-net-worth trustees and foundations, including the Broad Foundation.
Does MOCA maintain philanthropic structures, and how are they separated?
MOCA itself is the philanthropic entity. Its endowment and operations are charitable by definition. There is no separate grantmaking foundation spun out of the museum; contributions flow directly into MOCA from donor entities such as the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which has provided rescue funding and acquisition support over multiple decades.
What is MOCA's known posture on co-investments alongside external institutions?
MOCA does not traditionally co-invest in the financial sense, but it collaborates on exhibitions and acquisitions through partnerships with peer museums and membership networks like the North American Reciprocal Museum program. Joint acquisitions occur occasionally but are not structured as formal fund commitments or SPVs common in the venture capital world.
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