Scandinavian Charitable Society of Greater Boston Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042105955
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- W Newton, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6175276566
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Supportive Housing for Older Adults
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,871,747
- Expenses
- $4,011,641
- Assets
- $9,176,512
- Liabilities
- $2,164,900
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CYNTHIA WALSH (PRESIDENT)
- CAROL BERGERON (DIRECTOR & CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
- VICTORIA DANBERG (DIRECTOR & CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
- JOSEPH CARELLA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- JOSEPH CARELLA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $185,499 total reported compensation
- ALEXANDRA NICOLE FRENCH (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $107,748 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 scandinavian charitable society of greater boston is committed to providing affordable housing and assistance to elders and to support cultural enrichment and community connection.
What it reported doing in 2025
The scandinavian charitable society believes that the living center and the cultural center complement each other through mutually supportive activities while sharing space. The society, through the cultural center, is committed to positioning itself as the premiere hub for nordic cultural activities in new england by sharing important elements of scandinavian culture with the wider community.the second goal of the scandinavian cultural center is to be a location for and source of enriching and thought-provoking events for residents of newton and greater boston. These goals are achieved through collaborations with other organizations, and through the cultural center's own programs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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
STRONG - 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 liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 60
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.9%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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: 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: 17.7%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.29; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.9% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $185K · 14 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $2M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.