Chagrin Falls Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
346571176
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chagrin Falls, OH, USA
Phone
4402474695
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$632,211
Expenses
$291,569
Assets
$3,806,629
Liabilities
$7,434

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • IVAN NASSIF (PRESIDENT)
  • HUNTER WALTER (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • ROBERT NORWICK (TREASURER)
  • CAROL DOLAN (TRUSTEE)
  • KEN KVACEK (TRUSTEE)

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

Chagrin history center discovers, preserves, and shares evidence of and knowledge about the history of chagrin falls and vicinity to enable all who live, work, and visit the area to appreciate its past, understand its present, and plan for its future.

What it reported doing in 2024

The chagrin falls historical society museum acquires, collects, preserves and shares artifacts from our village and vicinity, from its earliest times (it was settled in 1833), including a large collection of photographs and objects owned by early settlers, such as clothing, kitchen tools, household furniture and personal effects, as well as a substantial doll collection donated by a former museum curator. The collection includes a number of products produced by the villages mills, foundries and factories that were originally water-powered by the chagrin river, which attracted the first settlers from mill towns in new england. The museum also has collections of artworks by two well known primitive artists henry church, jr. And max barnard who lived in the village most of their lives. The museum also maitains archives with records of local organizations and businesses, and microfilms of our early local weekly newspaper, the chagrin falls exponent. The chagrin falls historical society offers enjoyable and unique educational programs for both school children and adults throughout the year. The organization hosts an annual historic chagrin falls home and garden tour and spirits alive tour of evergreen hill cemetery. Additional services include guided walking tours of the downtown district and the westside historic district as well as the police car tours. In 2024 the organization completed the construction of the barriball carriage house providing educational opportunities and collection storage. $91,969 of donated services and in-kind contributions were received from the builder and sub-contractors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.

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: 45
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 90
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 33.7%; rating input score 34
  • Program expense ratio: 60.5%; rating input score 61
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 53.9%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 13.06; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 33.7% of revenue deployed · 60.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $176K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.