Colonial Dames of America

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131677400
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2014
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2128385489
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Reported finances

Revenue
$179,651
Expenses
$1,170,871
Assets
$7,637,456
Liabilities
$162,755

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAURIE ALDINGER (PRESIDENT GENERAL)
  • ANNA RICH (1ST VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ELLEN TOZER (2ND VICE PRESIDENT)
  • NICOLE SCHOLET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • NICOLE SCHOLET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $122,640 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To maintain a headquarters as well as a museum open to the public for educational purposes; to provide educational opportunities and scholarships; to promote historic preservation and patriotic activities; to commemorate and celebrate the history of the thirteen original colonies; and to create popular interest in american history.

What it reported doing in 2025

The cda scholorship program provides scholarships to institutions for student fellowships, history education initiatives, archaeological studies, and historic preservation projects.

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 98% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 54.6%; rating input score 55; 46th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -551.7%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.52; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.5%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 73.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $855K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $123K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.