Arizona Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
866000027
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone
5206285774
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,958,144
Expenses
$4,164,134
Assets
$5,222,285
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

2 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Dr David Breekner (Director): $137,500 total reported compensation
  • Rebekah Percival (Assistant Director): $87,360 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Arizona Historical Society's mission is 'connecting people through the power of Arizona's history'. The Arizona Historical Society serves as the steward of Arizona's history. The vision is the Arizona Historical Society seeks to be the driving force strengthening Arizona's communities by promoting history through leadership, partnership and scholarship.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education and Outreach Programs: The Arizona Historical Society (AHS) is the institutional sponsor and state coordinator for National History Day (NHD) in Arizona. NHD is a year-long program focused on historical research, analysis, and creative expression for 6th-12th grade students. The experience culminates in a series of contests at the local and state levels and an annual national competition in the nation's capital in June. With NHD, the students become the historians, building their critical thinking skills, analytical abilities, and confidence. NHD-AZ provides workshops, teacher and judge training, history education resources, and project consultation from staff historians and librarians. Overall, we serve thousands of students in the state. The Outreach program serves 68 Certified Historical Institutions across the state of AZ through grants, museum workshops, history presentations, publications, technical assistance, networking opportunities, and the 'Al Merito" award. The program awarded 32 grants to Certified historical Institutions in AZ this year totaling $33,999. It is a centralized resource for educators and parents looking to share AZ history with their students and children. It is a place to find recordings of programs and digital resources of the AHS.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 75% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 72.5%; rating input score 72; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.2%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.25; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 2 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.