Coastal Georgia Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
580964094
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
St Simons Island, GA, USA
Phone
9126384666
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,609,051
Expenses
$2,158,137
Assets
$9,893,165
Liabilities
$450,923

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Greer Brown (Vice President)
  • Mary Schellhorn (Past President)
  • Steve Kerr (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Dr Whitney Nell Stewart (Executive Dir.): $151,630 total reported compensation
  • Sherri Jones (Former ExDir): $120,752 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 purpose of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society (Society) is to aid in the administration, restoration and maintenance of those historic facilities and resources entrusted to its care so that they will be preserved as a living part of the historical and cultural foundations of our coastal community. In carrying out this trust, the Society is dedicated to collecting, restoring and housing artifacts reflective of the culture and history of Coastal Georgia and to promote awareness, knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the heritage of the area.

What it reported doing in 2025

Restoration, maintenance, and administration of the St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum; lectures, interpretive programs and excursions to historic sites; collecting, preserving, and housing of artifacts pertaining to the history of Coastal Georgia; maintenance and operations at the Historic St. Simons Coast Guard Station, operated as the World War II Home Front Museum since December 2018, to provide research, display artifacts, and interpret events pertaining to the history of Coastal Georgia and the Home Front story.

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

SUPPORTED - 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: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.5%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 67.5%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 17.3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.58; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.6%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.5% of revenue deployed · 67.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $152K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.