Metropolitan Waterworks Museum Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043251784
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6172770065
- Rating
- 91
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $541,573
- Expenses
- $651,233
- Assets
- $2,987,555
- Liabilities
- $76,576
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARTIN PERLMUTTER (PRESIDENT/INTERIM TREASURE)
- ERIC PETERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
People named in this filing
- MARTIN PERLMUTTER (PRESIDENT/INTERIM TREASURE)
- KATHERINE BURTON JONES (CLERK)
- RAYMOND J RAPOSA (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 mwm owns and operates the waterworks museum (the "museum"), including a community meeting room. The museum is a single condominium unit of the museum building condominium, one of separate condominium building regimes on the site. The four buildings share certain operating responsibilities through an administrative trust (the waterworks at chestnut hill trust), and the complex is commonly known as the waterworks at chestnut hill. The site was previously the chestnut hill waterworks, owned by the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and disposed of in accordance with the lda. Three of the four buildings and the adjacent chestnut hill reservoir are listed on the national register of historic places and the entire site is a designated city of boston landmark. The museum houses three historic steam pumping engines installed between 1894 and 1921: the allis, the worthington, and the leavitt. As required under the lda, mwm provides public access to the museum at no fee, and to the community roo
What it reported doing in 2025
The museum houses three historic steam pumping engines installed between 1894 and 1921: the allis, the worthington, and the leavitt. The mwm provides public access to the museum at no fee, and to the community room at a marginal cost recovery charge, both in perpetuity. Its mission as an educational non-profit is to promote learning at the waterworks museum, as well as preserving the magnificent industrial archaeology of the building and engines.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and assets have declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 95
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 90.8%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: $105.62 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -20.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.59; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $591K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.