History of Science Society Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 526050324
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Phone
- 5746311194
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $518,078
- Expenses
- $865,699
- Assets
- $4,432,694
- Liabilities
- $118,712
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- EVELYN HAMMONDS (PRESIDENT)
- FA-TI FAN (PRESIDENT)
- JOHN PAUL GUTIERREZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- SORAYA DE CHADAREVIAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JOHN PAUL GUTIERREZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $186,944 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The society's mission is to foster interest in the history of science, promote discussion of science's social and cultural relations, and bring this understanding to others worldwide.
What it reported doing in 2024
Publications - the society publishes two journals: isis appears quarterly and osiris appears annually. Using a highly selective process, the society ensures that each journal carries the best scholarship in the history of science. The editorial boards help the editors review the manuscripts under the overall direction of a committee on publications. Isis and osiris are sent to some 3,000 subscribers. The hss also publishes the annual isis current bibliography (cb) as a supplement to isis. Each cb contains thousands of entries, which are also loaded into the history of science, technology and medicine (hstm) database, published by ebsco, and freely available to individual members. Nonmembers can access much of the bibliographic data at no charge at www.isiscb.org.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 80% for direct work, and 20% for grants.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.7%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 67.3%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 97%; rating input score 97; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -67.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.12; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.7% of revenue deployed · 67.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $582K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $187K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
- 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 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.