The Heritage Society
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 741444232
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7136551912
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $216,194
- Expenses
- $366,888
- Assets
- $1,954,745
- Liabilities
- $27,997
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
27 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jillian Jopling (President)
- Joanne E Zumbrun (Vice President)
- Alison Bell (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Alison Bell (Executive Director): $77,510 total reported compensation
- Belinda Woo (Finance Director): $22,432 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Heritage Society (THS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other content.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Heritage Society cares for and operates historic buildings to demonstrate Houston's and Texas's history and to educate the public about the lifestyles of the area's early residents. Curators work diligently to maintain, preserve, and restore historic buildings and collections for the education and enjoyment of the public.The Heritage Society collects and exhibits items relevant to Houston's and Texas's history and must preserve and care for those items. Collection items are exhibited in the historic buildings and Museum Gallery and through rotating exhibitions on- and off-site. (See Schedule O)Heritage Society and the City of Houston entered into an amended and restated Lease Agreement on March 15, 2022. The lease term is 30 years. In the amended and restated agreement, the City of Houston has committed to providing funds for the historic structures' maintenance, repairs, and security.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 71% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 70
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.8%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 53.2%; rating input score 53
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
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: 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -69.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.33; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 27.2%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -13.6% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.1% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.8% of revenue deployed · 53.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $195K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 27 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.