Kitsap County Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
916049044
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Bremerton, WA, USA
Phone
3604796226
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Reported finances

Revenue
$386,649
Expenses
$270,434
Assets
$2,289,761
Liabilities
$71,383

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Angie Tomisser (President)
  • Jeffrey Coughlin (Vice-President)
  • Lisa Hope (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lisa Hope (Executive Director): $75,242 total reported compensation

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 Kitsap County Historical Society DBA Kitsap History Museum is Connecting Our Community With Each Story. The Society owns and operates the Kitsap History Museum in Bremerton WA maintaining a collection of over 100,000 photographs 40,000 artifacts and textiles and extensive archival materials including documents books maps records and oral histories. The museum presents permanent and rotating exhibits on the diverse culture heritage and history of Kitsap County and operates Rural Heritage exhibits at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. Programs include the Eat Your Way Through Kitsap History guided tour series the History Uncorked speaker series and community events. The museum partners with local organizations schools government agencies and businesses to promote historical awareness and cross-community collaboration throughout Kitsap County.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Kitsap History Museum stewards a collection of more than 100,000 photographs 40,000 artifacts and textiles and extensive archival materials including documents books maps records and oral histories. In 2025 in addition to maintaining permanent exhibits such as the Kitsap History Timeline and Main Street a recreated early 1900s commercial block the museum displayed three major temporary exhibitions. Her Work Our Story celebrated the contributions of Kitsap County women who challenged gender norms and shaped local history. Trade of the Northwest Coast explored Indigenous trade practices and the Chinook Jargon a trade language that connected cultures for centuries. 80 Years of Community Connection & Change, developed in collaboration with Kitsap Regional Library featured an immersive timeline of the library systems eight-decade history a vintage card catalog favorite checkouts from each decade and a playable Oregon Trail game. The museum also operated its Rural Heritage exhibits on farming fishing and logging at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds during the annual county fair. Online exhibits including recorded oral histories features on Filipino Americans and Black Trailblazers and highlights on 1960s fashion the Mosquito Fleet and local neighborhoods continued to expand access to the collection virtually.

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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 93.3%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $63.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 30.1%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.47; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66% of revenue deployed · 93.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $252K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.