The Hart Island Project Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 275559861
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2011
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 9144025992
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $40,349
- Expenses
- $45,901
- Assets
- $90,399
- Liabilities
- $839
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Melinda Hunt (President)
- Thomas Berner (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Melinda Hunt (President)
- Thomas Berner (Vice President)
- Paul Tackowiak (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To assist families and individuals with limited resources in accessing New York City public burial records, provide information concerning city burial procedures on Hart Island, advocate for ending mass burials in New York City and preserve Hart Island as the largest natural burial ground in the United States. We provide free access to an on-line database of mass burials with navigation, augmented reality grave marking, interpretive guide, landscape visualization as well as custom searches, personal assistance and support for creative projects about Hart Island.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Hart Island Project assisted families on gaining information about city and conducting gravesite visits.The Hart Island Project conducted a public webinars on Zoom throughout 2025 explaining the city's historic burial practice and a proof of concept for ending mass burials. The Hart Island Project hosted a table at Bronx Parks Speak-up and presented a landscape strategy for ending mass burials and preserving green burials in NYC. The Hart Island Project hosted a table at the City Island Environmental Festival and presented a landscape strategy for ending mass burials and preserving green burials in NYC. The Hart Island Project participated in a program titled Hart Island Stories at the NYC AIDS Memorial in Manhattan.The Hart Island Project was invited to testify at a public hearing on legislation requiring city agencies to conduct a study determining the future of City Cemetery on Hart Island with regard to sea level rise and climate change impacts on city burials.The Hart Island Project collaborated with the Mayor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships to communicate a strategy to end mass burials in New York City. The Hart Island Project worked with NYC Parks and the Department of Social Services on climate impacts on the city's historic burial practice and future plans for capital improvements on Hart Island.The Hart Island Project reviewed historic burial ledgers at the NYC Municipal Archives to confirm when New York City began to reuse burial plots and for consistency of the burial process.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.9%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 62.4%; rating input score 62
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -13.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.97; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 45.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 70.9% of revenue deployed · 62.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $29K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.