Providence Preservation Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
050283958
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Providence, RI, USA
Phone
4018317440
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,421,069
Expenses
$823,859
Assets
$5,060,863
Liabilities
$49,487

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CATHERINE LUND (PRESIDENT)
  • KAMARIA HAYDEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KATHERINE POMPLUN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MARISA BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARISA BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $106,696 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Since 1956, the providence preservation society has worked to improve providence by advocating for historic preservation and the enhancement of the city's unique character through thoughtful design and planning.

What it reported doing in 2025

Providence preservation society (pps) was founded in 1956. Over the last 70 years, we have evolved into a multidisciplinary research, education and advocacy organization working at the intersection of heritage policy, community-centered planning, and sustainable design. We are providence's strongest advocate for the adaptive reuse of our city's building stock and have taught skill-building workshops in the preservation trades and sustainable building practices since 2022. It is the largest citywide advocacy organization in Rhode Island, with approximately 500 member households.in 2025, pps launched a new volunteer committee called providence preservation corps (ppc), which assists underresourced community organizations with adaptive reuse or restoration projects. Ppc has initiated a first volunteer projects to assist a resource-challenged community organizations with preservation visioning and planning for their historic building: gospel tabernacle outreach ministries (designed in 1954 by architect domenic thomas russillo, formerly a conservative jewish temple). This organization serves black, hispanic and immigrant communities in smith hill. Ppc will provide an assessment of the historic buildings through three site visits and partner meetings, and a preservation plan that can be used by the organization to write grants and raise funds.in 2022, we established building works, which encompasses both workforce training and homeowner training programs, holding monthly or bi-monthly workshops on topics such as wooden window repair and rehabilitation, water management, weatherization, plaster repair, preservation carpentry and masonry, historic building deconstruction, and other sustainable building practices.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.4%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 50.4%; rating input score 50
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 42%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.14; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.4% of revenue deployed · 50.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $415K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 50/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.