Clatsop County Historical Society
Legal name: Clatsop County Historical Society Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 930453858
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Astoria, OR, USA
- Phone
- 503-325-2203
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,735,805
- Expenses
- $1,371,073
- Assets
- $8,526,777
- Liabilities
- $64,385
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LUKE COLVIN (BOARD PRESIDENT)
- DAVID REID (BOARD VICE-PRESIDENT)
- MCANDREW BURNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- MCANDREW BURNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $115,206 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 society is a private, nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of clatsop county, Oregon and the surrounding area.
What it reported doing in 2025
Education, exhibit, and collection - the society operates four distinctively different museums, all housed in historic buildings, as follows:* the flavel house: a queen anne victorian-style home, built in 1885, features original eastlake style woodwork interiors and exotic hardwood fireplaces with imported tile surrounds.* the heritage museum: built in 1904 as astoria's city hall, this building now houses the society's regional museum and archives. Galleries feature permanent exhibits about native americans, john jacob astor and the fur trade, immigrants, and natural resources. Continued on schedule o.* the uppertown fire station no. 2: this museum houses an extensive collection of fire-fighting equipment dating from 1879 to 1963, including horse-drawn and motorized fire engines, as well as firefighting memorabilia and photos. * the Oregon film museum: the museum celebrates the art and legacy of films and film-making in the state of Oregon. Housed in the old clatsop county jail, the museum invites visitors to explore these and other films and the production behind making movies in Oregon.* curatorial and conservation: the society maintains an archive and research library that offers researchers a unique resource documenting the evolution of clatsop county history, including approximately 30,000 photographic images, port of astoria records, personal scrapbooks and business ledgers, a vertical file of biographies and regional developments, and records from private service organizations.
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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 73
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.3%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.22; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.4%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 78.3% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $115K · 15 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.