Sherborn Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
046059666
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Sherborn, MA, USA
Phone
3025215840
Rating
54
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$461,877
Expenses
$11,169
Assets
$577,827
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Douglas Brown (President)
  • Megan Hermida Lu (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Douglas Brown (President)
  • Megan Hermida Lu (Vice President)
  • Jane Branch (Treasurer)

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

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

Overview

Mission

The purpose of the Society is to collect, display, store, and preserve artifacts, information, and documents concerning our local history and to use our resources to provide educational services to our community and the public at large.

What it reported doing in 2025

Hosted speaker on historical topic: Stephen Puleo, author, historian, teacher, public speaker and communications professional is the author of eight books, including his most recent, "The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union", published by St. Martin's Press in April 2024. The Great Abolitionist tells the story of one of the most influential non-presidents in American history (included in this exclusive club were Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King, Jr.) and far more influential than many presidents a leader who exhibited true courage and authenticity.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% 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

MIXED - 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: 19
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 93
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 1.1%; rating input score 1
  • Program expense ratio: 25.5%; rating input score 26
  • Fundraising efficiency: $141.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 10th 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 97.6%; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 51.73; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 173.8% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 134.2% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 1.1% of revenue deployed · 25.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 1 filing year from 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 1/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.