Historic Natchez Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237372767
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Natchez, MS, USA
Phone
6014422500
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Reported finances

Revenue
$871,898
Expenses
$568,598
Assets
$7,088,941
Liabilities
$45,468

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATRICK R BIGLANE (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • ANDY SARTIN (PRESIDENT)
  • LYNETTE TANNER (PRESIDENT ELECT)

People named in this filing

  • LANSEN BARROW (DIRECTOR)
  • CHUCK CALDWELL (TREASURER)
  • PATRICK R BIGLANE (PAST PRESIDENT)

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

To foster, encourage, and engage in the preservation, restoration, and development of historic sites, buildings, and personal property, in every way deemed to be feasible, including acquisition of buildings, sites, and other property for preservation and restoration and establishment of a revolving fund for that purpose.

What it reported doing in 2025

Collections - has a significant collection of important archival material, museum artifacts, and public records related to the history of the natchez region. The foundation's collections include books, photographs, documents, site files, subject files, public records, and artifacts. The archives and public records are made available on a daily basis to the public under supervision of foundation staff. The foundation maintains a research library with books and reference material on natchez and regional history, Mississippi history, historic preservation, architecture, decorative arts, fine arts, and museum management. The adams county board of supervisors has entrusted the foundation with the care and management of public courthouse records dating to the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.the county began relocating circuit court records to the foundation in 1992, and the program expanded in 2008 to include the chancery court records. The county provides a small amount of funding for records management. The foundation has sponsored the program in conjunction with universities and the national park service to preserve and catalogue these valuable historic documents. Staff members continue to process records to preserve them and to build a comprehensive computer database to make them more accessible to the public.

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: 86
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 84
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 73.2%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 34.8%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.47; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.4% of revenue deployed · 73.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $416K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 19 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.