Heritage Museum of Orange County

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953665050
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Ana, CA, USA
Phone
7145400404
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
History Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$579,136
Expenses
$638,922
Assets
$1,901,398
Liabilities
$201,925

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Candace Chromy (Executive Director)
  • Fernando Cueva (President)
  • Anna Sophia Servin (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Candace Chromy (Executive Director): $91,875 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Dedicated to preserving, promoting, and restoring the heritage of Orange County and the surrounding region through quality hands-on educational programs for students and visitors of all ages.

What it reported doing in 2024

We continue to enhance our programming to accommodate the California education standards in Social Studies, English, Performing Arts, and Sciences. We managed to grow our newest programs: "Exploration and Technology," aimed at 5th grade students to meet the required Social Studies and Science Standards, and D.I.R.T (Delicious, Indigeneous, Riparian, Treats), aimed at kindergarten through 2nd grade students and hosted in our natural environment. We offer additional preschool and early education literacy programs, a children's garden, and agricultural and ecological learning opportunities. We turned our strategic vision to offer programs for secondary students and a true strategic plan. We hosted high school students onsite to learn Organizational Management, Docent Skills, and Archival Methodology. We continued our People's History of OC Summer Program with local high school History Departments, where students are able to delve into their own personal history and appreciate cultural diversity. With the launch of our "Unknown Histories" mural project, we were able to welcome more high school students onsite to learn directly from community members and then interpret their oral histories into murals that will be permanent installations on museum grounds.

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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.3%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.98; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.9% of revenue deployed · 73.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $467K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.