Montpelier Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 311620682
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Orange, VA, USA
- Phone
- 5406722728
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $14,474,241
- Expenses
- $5,797,525
- Assets
- $21,435,893
- Liabilities
- $460,333
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MS EOLA DANCE (FORMER PRESIDENT)
- MS KRISTA COSTELLO (INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- MS EOLA DANCE (FORMER PRESIDENT): $248,853 total reported compensation
- MS KRISTA COSTELLO (INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO): $149,153 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
A memorial to james madison and the enslaved community, a museum of american history, and a center for constitutional education that engages the public with the enduring legacy of madison's most powerful idea: government by the people.
What it reported doing in 2024
Historic architecture and collections: historic architecture and collections are responsible for the care and maintenance of montpelier's historic structures - many associated with the dupont era - in addition to leading significant historic reconstruction projects such as the south yard. This is accomplished through architectural fieldwork by examining wood species, nails, windows, decorative mouldings, and more, to ensure that the reconstructed buildings are as historically accurate as possible. For example, during the restoration of the temple, the recovery of a single madison-era shingle while investigating the roof framing led to the determination that the temple roof was originally painted red.curatorial and collections is instrumental in the furnishing of the house and other reconstructed buildings on the property. All of the installations and acquisitions are based, at least in part, on the work and discoveries of other departments like archaeology, research, and architectural preservation. Recent projects include the furnishing plans for the south yard quarters; the acquisition of the artwork in the south passage of the house; the acquisition of objects connected to dolley madison: a lady's pocket watch, sewing kit, and miniature painting of the young mrs. Madison; and the most recent furnishings of john payne todd's bedroom, a guest bedroom, and an "interactive" room.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 83% 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.
- 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 52
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 84
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 34.9%; rating input score 35
- Program expense ratio: 78.5%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 59.9%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.7; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 34.9% of revenue deployed · 78.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $249K · 19 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $256K reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 37/100.