Strafford Historical Society Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 036007726
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Strafford, VT, USA
- Phone
- 8027654529
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $178,604
- Expenses
- $19,050
- Assets
- $505,969
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEPHEN WILLBANKS (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- STEPHEN WILLBANKS (PRESIDENT)
- DAVID WEBB (VICE PRESIDE)
- LAURA OGDEN (SECRETARY)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Founded in 1955, the mission of the strafford historical society is to preserve the sites, records, objects, and related materials pertaining to the history of the town of strafford for educational purposes and to apply the lessons of history for the solution and betterment of the current affairs of said town.
What it reported doing in 2024
Current year events included walking tours of strafford village during the summer and fall. During the tours, the shs historian highlights the histories of the buildings located in the village, both present and in the past, including anecdotes about who lived and worked in the village. The society offered one program during the year, held in the unfinished building, a film about the ransom family farm. The 2025 annual meeting included a demonstration of a new research project, "history in the present". The goal of this project is to create a digital archive of events and people's memories that help us understand how people in a small town in Vermont create community today. As part of this project, over the summer two student interns began documenting the history and importance of coburn's store. Contributions to the oral history of the store continue to be accepted.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 37
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 93
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 9.9%; rating input score 10
- Program expense ratio: 92.8%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 89.3%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 26.56; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 9.9% of revenue deployed · 92.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $18K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 10/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.