Historic Deerfield Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042262880
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Deerfield, MA, USA
- Phone
- 4137745581
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,695,297
- Expenses
- $9,778,961
- Assets
- $89,615,318
- Liabilities
- $1,248,412
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
32 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOHN H DAVIS (CEO/PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JOHN H DAVIS (CEO/PRESIDENT): $305,790 total reported compensation
- LAURA SMIAROWSKI (CFO & ASST. TREASURER): $158,488 total reported compensation
- LAURIE MCDONALD (INNKEEPER): $156,037 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Historic deerfield welcomes all to experience one of the best-preserved villages and rural landscapes in north america through dynamic encounters with the stories, cultures, and material worlds of those who have made new england home.
What it reported doing in 2024
Historic deerfield's public historian develops and oversees the annual lecture series in history and collaborates to create programs for general and academic audiences. Academic programs focus on the interdisciplinary use of history and related fields with a commitment to increasing attendance, expanding museum audiences, and fostering historic deerfield's affiliation with five colleges, inc. As well as other college faculty members and museum staff at other institutions. The public historian teaches a course in material culture for undergraduate and graduate students in the five colleges offered through smith college and directs historic deerfield's summer fellowship program. The summer fellowship program was established in 1956. This nine-week residential program is designed for undergraduate students, rising seniors, and graduating seniors. Seven fellows completed the program this fiscal year and over 470 have completed the program since its inception. Approximately 75% of summer fellows pursue careers in the museum or material culture fields. The library added 129 items to its collection of over 25,000 items during fiscal year 2025.
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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 63
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 78.4%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 41st 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -27.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.16; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $306K · 32 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $157K reported
- Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.