National Trust for Historic Preservation

Legal name: National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530210807
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
202-588-6000
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$104,875,831
Expenses
$91,264,282
Assets
$562,902,803
Liabilities
$59,969,674

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

47 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAY C CLEMENS (FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO (THRU 01/24) AND TRUSTEE (AS OF 02/24))
  • CAROL QUILLEN (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CAROL QUILLEN (PRESIDENT & CEO): $524,811 total reported compensation
  • JO ANN MCELWAIN (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $354,926 total reported compensation
  • TABITHA ALMQUIST (CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER): $308,412 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The National Trust for Historic Preservation leads the movement to save places where our history happened, connecting people to the past and inspiring a stronger nation.

What it reported doing in 2024

Historic preservation & conservation: education - communicates the importance of historic preservation, threats to historic places, and achievements in saving historic places to members and the public. Produces an annual conference, webinars, and in-person trainings, quarterly magazine, professional journal, audience newsletters, and websites to highlight important preservation issues, communicate preservation successes, and stimulate new interest in historic preservation. To inspire action by the public, stages media campaigns such as the 11 most endangered historic places list. Provides information about the legal and policy aspects of historic preservation. Historic preservation & conservation: membership outreach - educate the general public on the importance of and techniques for preserving the nation's architectural and cultural heritage. Historic preservation and conservation: publications include: 1) "preservation," the quarterly magazine chronicling individuals and programs working to save historic places; 2) "forum journal," a scholarly journal serving a network of preservation professionals, students and volunteers; 3) www.savingplaces.org and www.savingplaces.org/preservation-leadership-forum (preservation leadership forum) offer online content and email communications that inspire and educate the public and preservationists at all levels.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.1%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.17; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 13 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 86.1% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $77.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $525K · 47 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.5M reported
  • Consistency: 44 of 45 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 229 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 225 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.