Hill-stead Museum
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 060646673
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Farmington, CT, USA
- Phone
- 8606774787
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,183,628
- Expenses
- $1,903,967
- Assets
- $11,734,116
- Liabilities
- $214,055
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
27 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DR ANNA M SWINBOURNE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & TRUST)
- KRISTEN RENEHAN (PRESIDENT)
- MARK SIDES (FIRST VICE PRESIDENT)
- LAVELL M L THOMPSON (SECOND VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- DR ANNA M SWINBOURNE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & TRUST): $156,468 total reported compensation
- DANIEL FLYNN (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $63,928 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Hill-stead museum (hsm), a nat'l historic landmark, serves diverse audiences in ct and beyond as a welcoming place for learning, reflection and enjoyment.
What it reported doing in 2025
Collections and conservationhill-stead's 1901 country home, characterzied by a 33,000 square foot, 36 room interior and white clapboard exterior with mount vernon veranda, is considered "perhaps the finest colonial revival house and museum in the united states" (national historic landmark report). Established in 1946 as a cultural resource for the public in perpetuity, hsm is one of the nation's few remaining representations of early 20th-century country place estates. Hsm boasts french impressionist masterpieces - four by claude monet, three by edgar degas - and notable works by edouard manet, mary cassatt, and james mcneill whistler, among others. Collections include 250 prints and photographs, 290 ceramics, 400 pieces of furniture, 3,300 books and 16,000+ archival
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.5%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 70.7%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 96.3%; rating input score 96; 26th 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: 12.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.16; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.6%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.5% of revenue deployed · 70.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $156K · 27 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.