Lake County Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
340863972
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Painesville, OH, USA
Phone
4406392945
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$192,460
Expenses
$236,390
Assets
$1,188,564
Liabilities
$203,544

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • AMY GUYNN-KAPOSTASY 2024 (EXECUTIVE DI): $60,000 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 mission of the lake county historical society is to collect, preserve, and tell the story of lake countys history through museum exhibits, historic sites, collections, educational programs and book publishing.

What it reported doing in 2024

Lchs operates a year round program of youth and adult educational programs, community events, museum exhibits, research projects and collection and archives data management projects. Youth pre-school to middle school attend field trips on site in the historical village and native american site, off-site on community based field trips and programs offered in the classroom called history to go. During the summer and school holidays, a variety of camps and themed programs are offered. Adults are serviced by dinner and presentation programs (historic dine arounds), bus tours, woman's history month historic luncheon, speaker's bureau and interactive programs in assisted living and nursing homes. Community events feature historic themes, such as civil war encampment, western reserve clambake, home for the holidays and lake county christmas church bus tour. Lchs continues its commitment to refurbish the former lake county home into the county history center opening five new exhibit spaces in the last two years. Collection management has made great strides in digitizing all photographic images, entering all genealogy data, and entering all manuscript references in the lchs library.

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

SUPPORTED - 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: 36
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 38.3%; rating input score 38
  • Program expense ratio: 30.8%; rating input score 31
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -22.8%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.03; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.8% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 38.3% of revenue deployed · 30.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $73K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $60K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.