The New Canaan Historical Society Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 060727288
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New Canaan, CT, USA
- Phone
- 2039661776
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,502,507
- Expenses
- $810,462
- Assets
- $6,764,150
- Liabilities
- $99,845
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ALEC CASEY (VICE PRESIDENT)
- THOMAS MONAHAN (PRESIDENT)
- NANCY GEARY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- NANCY GEARY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $151,350 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 new canaan museum & historical society is a cultural institution that focuses on preservation, modernism, education and community. Through exhibits, programs, library services and events, we celebrate history and explore its role in shaping the future.
What it reported doing in 2024
The society's daily operations encompass many different activities: the society maintains and operates new canaan's first town hall (1825), now expanded to house a library and vault with documents, genealogies, art artifacts, as well as the silliman-monroe-cody drug store museum (1846) and an extensive clothing and textile collection; the hanford-silliman house museum (c.1764); the rodgers studio museum (1878); the tool museum and nineteenth -century printing office; the rock school (1799); off campus the little red school house (1855), and the mid-cnetury modern gores pavillion (1960). It operates a research library; a full schedule of educational programs for both children and adults; a plaquing program for historic homes;
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 65% 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 - Most voting board members are independent and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 50
- Transparency & Controls: 62
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 79
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 39.8%; rating input score 40
- Program expense ratio: 62.9%; rating input score 63
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 46.1%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.35; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.7%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.9% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 39.8% of revenue deployed · 62.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $510K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 19 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 40/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.