Altadena Heritage
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 954190309
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2022
- Location
- Altadena, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6264876066
- Rating
- 56
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $236,321
- Expenses
- $24,793
- Assets
- $243,870
- Liabilities
- $202,912
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
People named in this filing
- Gary Mendes (Treasurer)
- Val Zaval (Recording Secretary)
- Hans Allhoff (Chair)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We advocate to preserve the many historic cultural resources of our foothill community and promote thoughtful rebuilding of our business districts and gathering places. Working with the Owen Brown Grave-site Committee through contract with Los Angeles County to create signage, maps, programs, educational materials, a film, and teacher training. Developing programs for community engagement through tours, art contests, lectures, marking important community anniversaries with special events programs, mapping historical context and creating and distributing brochures, newsletters, books, and maps.
What it reported doing in 2025
We gathered the community at the holiday season to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Altadena Historical Society. It celebrated other community achievements during the year and was attended by dignitaries.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 87% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 28
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 81
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 7.4%; rating input score 7
- Program expense ratio: 70.8%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 89.5%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.84; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.83; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -39.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -13.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3.7% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 7.4% of revenue deployed · 70.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $16K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 15 of 17 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 7/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Fund balance restriction sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.