Key Peninsula Historic Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911283452
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Vaughn, WA, USA
Phone
2538842994
Rating
52
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$31,682
Expenses
$31,145
Assets
$600,240
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Diane Jackman (Vice President)
  • Catherine Williams (President)

People named in this filing

  • Bart Wolfe (Director)
  • Paul Michaels (Director)
  • Nicole Carr-Niemann (Director)

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

The mission of the Key Peninsula Historic Society is to gather, record, preserve and disseminate information about the history of the Pierce County area generally known as the "Key Peninsula" so that succeeding generations of residents will have a firm and accurate record from its earliest inhabitants, early exploration, and settlement, to the present time. To this end, we collect historic memorabilia from members and friends of the museum, engage with the local elementary schools to provide hands-on history learning at the museum or online, present talks to organizations, and sell books about the history of the Key Peninsula. We also promote the museum's collection and display using our website, by staffing a booth at local community events, and participating in STREAM nights at the local elementary schools.

What it reported doing in 2025

Historical outreach events and school activities. Objective: To continuously develop the history of the Key Peninsula through many other outreach events and school activities throughout the community each year. These include: (1) The Livable Community Fair and The Winter Warm-up at the Key Peninsula Civic Center, as well as the Farm Tour at the Longbranch Improvement Club and the "Art Walk" in Key Center sponsored by the Two Waters Art Alliance; (2) We conduct a Living History Day for third and fourth graders from Vaughn Elementary School each year at our museum and give the local elementary teachers access to our Traveling History Tote that meets the criteria for Common Core State Standards used to teach the next generation of students about the history of the Key Peninsula;(3) We make historical presentations to campers at Penrose Point State Park during the Summer months each year; and, (4) We also help local authors and citizens perform family genealogical research from our extensive data files on those families who settled here in the early years of the Key Peninsula. We sponsored or participated in these community activities to reach about 2,000 citizens (estimate) from our area of Pierce County and used about 2,400 hours (estimate) of help from our dedicated team of volunteers during the current fiscal year. Total expenses for this program service accomplishment during fiscal year 2025-2026 were $603.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 76% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 16
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 20.1%; rating input score 20
  • Program expense ratio: 15.6%; rating input score 16
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 19th 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: 1.7%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 19.27; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -167.2% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -22% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.6% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 20.1% of revenue deployed · 15.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 20/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.