Mower County Historical Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 410952746
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Austin, MN, US
- Phone
- (507) 437-6082
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $257,576
- Expenses
- $224,141
- Assets
- $552,778
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RANDAL J FORSTER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- THERESA BECKER-ERSLAND (VICE PRESIDENT)
- JEFF ANDERSON (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- RANDAL J FORSTER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $57,903 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To collect, preserve, and share the history of Mower County.
What it reported doing in 2025
Mower county historical society has discovered, collected, preserved and disseminated numerous facts about mower county and how it relates to the history of the state of Minnesota.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 67% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 46
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 49.7%; rating input score 50
- Program expense ratio: 55.4%; rating input score 55
- 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: 13%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.47; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 25.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 49.7% of revenue deployed · 55.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $124K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $58K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.