Dubuque County Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
426072050
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Dubuque, IA, USA
Phone
5635579545
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,279,192
Expenses
$8,299,206
Assets
$38,808,673
Liabilities
$4,829,561

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kurt Strand (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kurt Strand (CEO): $283,997 total reported compensation
  • Thomas Lange (VP of Finance & Operations): $92,093 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To inspire stewardship by creating educational experiences where history and rivers come alive.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Dubuque County Historical Society is comprised of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, which includes the William M. Black dredge steamboat (a National Historic Landmark), National Rivers Hall of Fame, RiverWorks Discovery, and other historic buildings and vessels on its 14-acre campus; and the Mathias Ham Historic Site, which includes Mathias Ham's Italianate villa, Iowa's oldest building, and other historic and recreated structures on the two-acre site. Museum operations and collections - The Museum is open 362 days of the year and served 181,712 onsite guests in 2024. The operations included inspiring stewardship by creating educational experiences where history and rivers come alive! (Continued on Schedule O)The collection consists of 2,248 animals of 255 species in our living collection and 21,555 artifacts/objects in our historical collection. We also have 4,400 linear feet of archival material and 8,400 books in our research library. Many of the collections are on display in the 4 buildings on both sites, including the library which serves as a research site.Museum education - The Museum provided special programming for 14,670 student groups, 11,107 adult groups and 28,328 people off-site in 2024.

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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -14%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.68; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $284K · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $994K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.