Morrison County Historical Society

What it reported doing in 2025

The morrison county historical society (mchs) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing morrison county history. It owns and operates the charles a. Weyerhaeuser memorial museum in little falls, mn.on january 16, alesha ouren filled the museum manager position after working through the laura jane musser grant photo project. She was paid with funds from the musser grant until it depleted in may, and she began receiving payroll.the plans for mchs's riverbank restoration project went into motion early 2025. The first round of bids from march 17 were rejected, all over $1 million, then the board accepted the package from sunram corporation of corcoran, mn after the second round of bids. The plans to replace the roof also went into effect in 2025. The board accepted a bid from the equity builders & construction services on may 27.mchs continued our partnership with the morrison county fair. Our exhibit at the santa house this year focused on morrison county in the 1980s. The overall reception was incredibly positive, with guests sharing their own memories of the 80s.2025 was mchs's third year participating in the charmed bike ride as part of visit little falls. Children who collect charms from every location are entered into a drawing to win a bike from a local bike shop. Carried out a phase iii archaeological survey on our property after discovery of native american artifacts on the property, required by the corps of engineers before the riverbank project could begin.in july 2025, mchs opened a temporary exhibit of photographs up and down the Mississippi river with associated poems called "the river connects us." this was on display through august. Hosted our annual meeting at holy family church in belle prairie with guest speaker nikki rajala on september 25, and lectures on women and their roles in the fur trade.mchs received a collections donation of father pierz memorial high school, active from 1952-1968, senior class photos, nearly every collage. An exhibit displaying the class photos, along with articles about school activities published in the pierz journal, opened in early october to great acclaim from the community. The exhibit will be on display through march.construction on both the riverbank and roof began the week of october 14. The roof was finished within two weeks, and the riverbank work went on until the first snowfall. Work will resume in the spring.2025 was mchs' second year participating in the little falls christmas tours as the nutcracker suite. Our nutcracker collection grows, with board and staff bring in more. This year, we stayed open on sunday for both weekends. We received a steady flow of attendance, totaling 301 visitors. The exhibit will be on display through the end of january 2026.mchs staff assisted on and off-site researchers in answering their research questions.maintained an active online presence via our blog/website, facebook, and youtube.grew the mchs collections through donations from members and friends.number of members in 2025: 160number of collections donors: 35number of researchers: 75number of visitors: 2,707number of website visitors: 122,378

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
• Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 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: 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: 12.4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.72; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 22.5%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings