The National Liberty Ship Memorial Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942506639
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2023
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4156786088
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,276,185
Expenses
$1,502,625
Assets
$385,865
Liabilities
$29,189

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KEN WRIGHT (EXECUTIVE DI): $80,000 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 mission of the national liberty ship memorial is to restore, promote and operate the liberty ship, ss jeremiah obrien, as a living museum. The goal of this mission is to preserve, for present and future generations, the story of the patriotic and brave men and women who built, sailed and defended the 2,710 american-built world war ii ships known as liberties.

What it reported doing in 2024

The nlsm is a fully functional world war ii liberty ship, the ss jeremiah o'brien, docked in san francisco bay. The tours and displays are designed to promote and increase public awareness of liberty ships, the merchant marine, the homefront effort, and the us maritime history. The cruises are a rich living history lessons in how these ships were built, sailed, and continue to operate. The primary focus of the ship's program is the education of the youth about world war ii, particularly the civilian shipbuilding effort, the battle of the atlantic, d-day, etc. The nlsm offers a high school internship and an online history course as well as an overnight stay aboard with an educational program and special tour if the ship. The purpose of the national liberty shp memorial is to preserve, protect, and present the liberty ship, ss jeremiah o'brien, as a living memorial to the men and women who built, sailed, and defended the ships known as liberty ships. Additonally, the chip continues to server her country each year as a training platform for several federal, state, and local agencies; including homeland security, the us coast guard, us navy, us army, alcohol firemarms and tobacco, and sheriff and police departments.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 80
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.6%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 56.4%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.7%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.26; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.6% of revenue deployed · 56.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 14 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $847K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.