Cathedral Heritage Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 260275248
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2009
- Location
- Saint Paul, MN, US
- Phone
- 651-300-6584
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $474,795
- Expenses
- $477,199
- Assets
- $1,040,335
- Liabilities
- $5,223
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
People named in this filing
- MARY E SCHAFFNER (BOARD CHAIR)
- BRIAN HARENS (TREASURER)
- BARBARA H DRIES (SECRETARY)
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
Preserving the Cathedral of Saint Paul as a historic monument and a community treasure, and supporting it as a venue for the arts and education. marked, and a lanyard. Choose your favorite design or collect all four! Proceeds support our mission to preserve and promote the Cathedral as a cherished Minnesota landmark. Book A Tour. The Cathedral Heritage Foundation is a non-profit, historic preservation, cultural and arts organization established to preserve, restore, and enhance the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The CHF is governed by a volunteer Board of Curators (Directors) responsible for the organization’s oversight. Our Board of Curators is comprised of individuals from the Twin Cities community with diverse business, professional, and community volunteer backgrounds. Collectively, we who are committed to preserving, restoring, and enhancing the Cathedral of Saint Paul as a civic and...
What it reported doing in 2024
During fiscal year 2025, the foundation made 4 major grants to the cathedral of saint paul for general restoration and improvement projects, assessment of the facilities, archives and museum support, and music programming. The foundation also engaged in community-based programs intended to make the case for cathedral preservation through website updates, monthly newsletters containing information about the history, preservation, and support provided by the foundation. Such programming included the christmas market, which was a combination of a european-style outdoor market and a christmas concert at the cathedral. Finally, the foundation funded the establishment of the self-guided 50-minute video tour for visitors.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 43% for direct work, and 57% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.6%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 77.2%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $20.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 97.6%; rating input score 98; 57th 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: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -0.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.18; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 78.6% of revenue deployed · 77.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $369K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.