Civil War Trails Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541885764
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Williamsburg, VA, USA
Phone
7573785462
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$524,521
Expenses
$526,930
Assets
$645,949
Liabilities
$39,645

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Chris Brown (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Chris Brown (Executive Director): $80,990 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Promote public awareness of and visitation to Civil War sites in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

What it reported doing in 2024

Map-guide Reprinting: Civil War Trails, Inc. works with our partners including state and municipal travel offices, destination marketing organizations, and other municipal partners to promote travel to each of the Civil War Trails sites. Updates to and publication of the Civil War Trails map-guides are one of our main methods of promoting the sites and stories. During the fiscal year staff reprinted map guides for Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia and began editing the map guides for North Carolina. Together the map-guides promote the sites in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West, Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Member-benefit provider. The nonprofit used 88% of its reported program spending for member benefits.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.3%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 88.5%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -0.5%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.23; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.3% of revenue deployed · 88.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $466K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.