Marblehead Museum & Historical Society Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
046003248
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Marblehead, MA, USA
Phone
7816311768
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$941,484
Expenses
$477,280
Assets
$4,847,070
Liabilities
$8,000

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAUREN MCCORMACK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • MAURA K PHELAN (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • PATTY PEDERSON (PRESIDENT)
  • MAEVE RICE (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LAUREN MCCORMACK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $66,967 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 marblehead museum's mission is to preserve, protect, and promote marblehead's past as a means of enriching the present. The museum shall collect, study, and conserve such historial materials as related to the town and of the persons whose lives have all contributed to the development of marblehead, and otherwise influenced its history. It shall conserve and preserve relics and property of the past, such as the jeremiah lee mansion and the civil war & grand army of the republic museum, and other property, both real and personal, as may be given, bequeathed, purchased, loaned to or otherwise acquired by the museum. The museum will use the collection for the education, enjoyment, and benefit of the general public. The museum is an educational resource for residents of marblehead, visitors and scholars from around the world.

What it reported doing in 2025

The marblehead museum achieves its mission to preserve, protect and promote the unique history of marblehead through a variety of programs and initiatives for children and adults. The museum and the lee mansion are open tuesday through saturday from june through october. The museum remains open year round, while the lee mansion is seasonal. Admission to the lee mansion is $10 per person. Approximately 6,000 people visit the museum annually. The museum does not charge admission, and the changing exhibit and the frost gallery are open to visitors. The staff is also available to help with research questions. The museum's third property, the civil war and g.a.r. Museum, is open on saturdays in spring, summer and fall, with no admission charge. Children's programming includes after school workshops, guided tours and activities at the lee mansion and the frost gallery, staff visits to classrooms and intern projects for high school and college students. All children's programming is free. Approximately 1,000 students, from 3rd to 8th grades of marblehead public schools visit annually. An average of 4 to 6 students from local high schools and colleges work one on one with staff throughout the year as interns. Programming for adults focuses on the spring and fall lecture series, sponsored by marblehead harbor investment counsel, a total of 10-12 lectures are offered each year. Also, walking tours of historic marblehead take place during the summer and fall, daytime lecture series, known as brown bag lunch, are offered at no charge.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% 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

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 54
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 41.8%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 69.7%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $26.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 49.3%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.16; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 41.8% of revenue deployed · 69.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $333K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $67K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.