Nickel Plate Road Historical &

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237178155
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Bradford, OH, USA
Phone
2163378090
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$52,038
Expenses
$85,757
Assets
$205,942
Liabilities
$235

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

People named in this filing

  • John D Columbo (National Director)
  • Eric Payne (Secretary)
  • H Bruce Blonder (Treasurer and Newsletter Editor)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Historical, archival acquisition and maintenance, research, and preservation of the Nickel Plate Railroad. Publication of both a quarterly magazine and monthly e-mail newsletter with news, historical research features on the Nickel Plate Road, and modeling information on the NYC&StL Railroad (Nickel Plate Road).

What it reported doing in 2024

Quarterly magazine and monthly newsletter publication of historic articles and current news relating to the preservation of the Nickel Plate Railroad. These are distributed to almost 780 members in addition to libraries, researchers, museums and historical societies for public benefit and research accommodation. High Definition digitization of archives is also now in progress for internet research. An additional monthly electronic newsletter with historical and current articles on the Nickel Plate Railroad was instituted in 2021. Trial on-line educational program began this year, to be enlarged over the coming years.

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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.6%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 53%; rating input score 53

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -64.8%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.4; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.6% per year; rating input score 0; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.6% of revenue deployed · 53% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $45K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.