New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Legal name: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 472147308
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2015, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- New Bedford, MA, USA
- Phone
- 508-993-8894
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- History Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $375,109
- Expenses
- $365,586
- Assets
- $365,790
- Liabilities
- $193,400
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
People named in this filing
- Jeff Dubois (Board Chairman)
- Nancy Harding (Vice Chairman)
- Ed Sylvia (Treasurer)
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
Telling the story of the Fishing Industry —Past, Present and Future.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Center presents a variety of educational programs to school and tour groups and the general public inluding a free summer camp, monthly documentary films, a speaker series, walking tours, lectures, craft and cooking classes, as well as special events such as festivals and conferences. Our exhibits include a permanent exhibit and 2-4 gallery exhibits developed and presented annually. We have an ongoing community documentation project conducting and transcribing oral history interviews with members of the fishing community. Additionally, we maintain a digital archive of scanned photographs and documents from the fishing community. We also host fishing community events and industry meetings. Program expenses include staff time, program supplies, printing, graphics design, honoraria for presenters, and other related expenses.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.8%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.5%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.53; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 83.8% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $307K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.