Independence Seaport Museum
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 231584971
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Phone
- 2154138655
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Museum, Museum Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,311,365
- Expenses
- $6,426,754
- Assets
- $19,528,398
- Liabilities
- $1,589,962
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
24 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Peter Seibert (CEO & President)
Highest reported compensation
- Peter Seibert (CEO & President): $243,292 total reported compensation
- Michael Flynn (Executive VP and COO): $158,738 total reported compensation
- Michael Timothy Madeja (Director of Education): $125,879 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To discover philadelphia's river of history and world of connections. Serving a wide and diverse audience and holding its collections in trust for the community, the museum tells the stories of the people, historical events and environmental changes of the Delaware river and its tributaries. It looks to a broad regional definition of the river to include both philadelphia and camden as well as portions of the southern coast of New Jersey and the schuylkill river drainage. The museum is the leading educational organization in the region dedicated to the history and culture of the Delaware river and its estuaries. We focus upon building k-16 educational programs that engae students in the rich history of this region as it relates to the waterways in addtion to providng stem and environmental educational opportunities. Our educational mission is to build an understanding of the historical, cultural, and environmental importance of the Delaware river watershed. The museum retains a nationa
What it reported doing in 2024
The independence seaport museum hosted a wide range of programs, events, and activities. Staff undertook the first of numerous changes to upgrade existing exhibitions and programs including the new ship model gallery, integration of its historic boat collection into its existing exhibitions, and environmental upgrades to the facilities. The museum continues to offer its award-winning installation "river alive" as well as the extremely popular exhibition "tides of freedom". The former focuses upon the Delaware river and its environment while the latter closely examines the role of african-americans along the river. In addition, the museum operates the cruiser olympia and submarine becuna for the public. Finally, the museum provides extensive on the water educational programming throughout the year.
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
STRONG - 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: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -94.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.04; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 9th 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 · 76.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $243K · 24 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $542K reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors 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
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.