San Francisco Architectural Heritage
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237135037
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4154413000
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,007,291
- Expenses
- $1,317,731
- Assets
- $14,486,726
- Liabilities
- $198,853
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEPHEN LABOUNTY (President CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- STEPHEN LABOUNTY (President CEO): $207,985 total reported compensation
- Michael Christman (Finance and Operations Director): $127,327 total reported compensation
- Kerri Young (Programs and Communication Director): $112,347 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Organizations primary impact is to preserve and enhance San Franciscos unique architectural and cultural identity.
What it reported doing in 2025
Heritage advocates urban conservation in the public-decision making process by monitoring projects and policies that affect historic and cultural resources at the San Francisco Planning Commission Historic Preservation Commission and the Board of Supervisors and by providing a forum for public awareness. Other Educational programs include walking tours of San Francisco special tours and lectures about its architectural history legacy businesses and cultural history. SF Heritage monitors 59 preservation easements ensuring the facades of historically structures are maintained in perpetuity.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 90% 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 available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 36
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 80
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 19.8%; rating input score 20
- Program expense ratio: 55.8%; rating input score 56
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- 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: Limited
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 67.1%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.99; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 34%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 19.8% of revenue deployed · 55.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $736K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $208K · 19 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 44 of 44 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 20/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.