Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society
Legal name: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 232146405
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Eldersburg, MD, USA
- Phone
- 443-398-8166
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $181,451
- Expenses
- $102,727
- Assets
- $1,091,678
- Liabilities
- $1,611
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- GREG SMITH (PRESIDENT)
- GRANT BERRY (VICE PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- BRUCE ELLIOTT (DIRECTOR)
- BILL CARL (DIRECTOR)
- NICK FRY (DIRECTOR)
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
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society (B&ORHS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving the history of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), the first common carrier railroad in the United States.
What it reported doing in 2024
Archives: manitain an archive of over 50,000 original engineering drawings, books, and other publications pertaining to the b&o railroad. Add new material to the archives as it becomes available.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 - 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: 55
- Transparency & Controls: 91
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 83
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 50.5%; rating input score 50
- Program expense ratio: 82.8%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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; 63rd 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 43.4%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.63; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 50.5% of revenue deployed · 82.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 968 of 968 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $85K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.