German Heritage Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 911319233
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Seattle, WA, USA
- Phone
- 4257751336
- Rating
- 58
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $156,946
- Expenses
- $187,618
- Assets
- $1,169,984
- Liabilities
- $3,480
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Manfred Bolender (President)
People named in this filing
- Manfred Bolender (President)
- Brigitte Ford (Treasurer)
- Sonja Kohler - Gardner (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Support of seniors, meeting place for friends, members, guests, choir and dance practice, concerts and preserve a historic building, built in 1886.
What it reported doing in 2025
The German House is available to many different groups. Some of these groups are over 100 years old. Some of these groups are not members of the German Heritage Society. All of these groups keep separate records of their own revenue and expenses. Some of our members come as far away as Lacey, Olympia, Birch Bay, Tacoma, etc. and one member even comes from Vancouver, Canada. One of the reasons why we have so few young members is the law not to have children at an event when we serve beer and wine. If we cannot bring children on a regular basis to the German House, very seldom will they come when these children are adults. Our main goal is to collect enough money for the German House to make our historic building built in 1886 earthquake proof. We also installed a stairlift because most of our members are older than 70 years old. Also, 70 of our members, friends and guests are women. Theses structural improvements are necessary to make the building structurally sound, so members can safely use the facility.
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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 54
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 12
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 65.1%; rating input score 65
- Program expense ratio: 53.3%; rating input score 53
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -19.5%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.24; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 65.1% of revenue deployed · 53.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $100K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.