Becket Athenaeum Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
043458519
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Becket, MA, USA
Phone
4136235483
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Libraries

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$253,552
Expenses
$265,725
Assets
$1,539,730
Liabilities
$11,469

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ELLEN MANLEY (EXEC DIR (EF): $50,643 total reported compensation
  • NICOLE SCHULZE (EXEC DIR (TH): $24,025 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The becket athenaeum's mission is to enrich and empower the lives of our community members. We provide diverse and responsive resources, services and programming in a safe, inclusive environment, at no cost.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our grant-funded programming consists of: - financially supporting a traditional after-school program (kids club) held at the becket Washington school 5 days/week from 3-5:30pm with weekly visits to the library, keeping the costs down to 7/day/child for families. -recurring programs for adults (monthly book club, cookbook club, game night, and movie night), teens (monthly dungeons & dragons), and children (weekly storytime with stay & play, baby & toddler playgroup, and educational programming for the local elementary school classes). - town of becket camp/becket arts center collaboration: we plan and run enrichment programs for the free town summer camp that serves children ages 6 to 12. -teen intern mentor program: we provide year-round jobs and training for local teens, typically their very first job. We guide them through job applications, interviews, working papers, direct deposit forms, as well as mentoring them for work ethic, skills building, and teamwork. -we schedule 12-24 additional stand-alone programs such as craft and gardening workshops, speakers on a wide variety of topics, and an ever- changing line-up of performers (storytellers, puppeteers, musicians, etc).

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

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: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.7%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 84.9%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $65.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -4.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.79; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.1%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.7% of revenue deployed · 84.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $226K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $51K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.