Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
256058560
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone
4124715808
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,946,199
Expenses
$3,190,034
Assets
$1,534,457
Liabilities
$369,935

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHAEL SRIPRASERT (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL SRIPRASERT (PRESIDENT): $419,182 total reported compensation
  • ARTHUR P ZIEGLER JR (CO-FOUNDER): $387,627 total reported compensation
  • DONALD KORTLANDT (GENERAL COUNSEL): $271,939 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Phlf works within a 250-mile radius of pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to: identify and save historically significant places; renew historic neighborhoods, towns, and urban areas; preserve historic farms and historically designated landscapes; and educate people about the pittsburgh region's rich architectural heritage.

What it reported doing in 2025

Phlf's education department offers a variety of services and educational programs on local history, architecture, and urban planning, which include walking and bus tours of architectural and historical sites for both the general public and school children; inservice classes for teachers; research and publication of booklets and brochures; and classroom programs for public and private school children. Phlf maintains the james van trump library open to the public and provides research and education on architecture, urban planning and preservation topics, and a second library, the frank b. Fairbanks rail transportation archive.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 14
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.1%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 78.4%; rating input score 78; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -8.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.48; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 60.7%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -13.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.1% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $419K · 31 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 22 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 21 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.