The Steeples Project
Legal name: 1901 Church Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 251888918
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Johnstown, PA, US
- Phone
- (814) 536-7986
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $244,160
- Expenses
- $192,098
- Assets
- $765,823
- Liabilities
- $251,413
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
People named in this filing
- KIM RAUCH (CHAIR)
- RICHARD BURKERT (VICE CHAIR)
- CHRISTINE SCHOLL (BOARD MEMBER)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To drive revitalization of historical buildings as arts venues that expand the region’s cultural and economic-development opportunities.
What it reported doing in 2024
The final design phase of the columba theatre project (development of construction documents) is underway, following a three-year effort to raise the 165,000 design fee. Funds are being provided through a 75,000 area development grant from the appalachian regional commission, 35,000 from the community foundation for the alleghenies, 25,000 from the Pennsylvania historical and museum commission, 20,000 from the national endowment for the arts, 5,000 from the national trust for historic preservation and 5,000 in 1901 church funds. When the final design phase has been completed by the end of the summer of 2025, phase one of the columba theatre project will be shovel-ready. The columba theatre project's first construction phase will turn 1901 church, inc.'s former st. Columba church building into a professional- quality center for dramatic arts, which johnstown currently lacks. The design team includes an architect, who specializes in adaptive-reuses for historical buildings; a theatre-development consulting firm; an acoustical consultant specializing in performing arts spaces; a mep engineering firm; and a structural engineer. Design is being done in conformance with the secretary of the interior's standards for the treatment of historic properties, and the intention is to syndicate federal and state historic preservation tax credits to help fund construction. In total, by the end of this latest design phase, 317,000 will have been invested in a feasibility study, schematic design, design development and construction documents for this project.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21.3%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.99; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $166K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.