The New York Central System Historical Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237084709
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Hudson, MA, USA
Phone
6175138245
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$209,632
Expenses
$166,949
Assets
$742,283
Liabilities
$144,150

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Alex Schneider (President)
  • Noel Widdifield (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Alex Schneider (President)
  • Noel Widdifield (Vice President)
  • Stephen Probst (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. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Mission of the NYCSHS is to perpetuate the legacy of the New York Central System NYCS railroad by acquiring and preserving its history traditions documents and artifacts; and by disseminating accurate information and products consistent with good stewardship.

What it reported doing in 2025

The NYCSHS operates both physical and electronic archives. The physical archives are located in NYCSHSs HQ Archives leased space. The electronic archives are available to anyone. NYCSHS uses a third-party hosting service for the electronic archive since it is felt that internal hosting is not part of its core competency. The electronic archive contains photographs and ICC Valuation Maps that are available for purchase. The archives have been used to create items sold in the Collinwood Shop. According to Accounting Standards Update 2019-03: Not-For-Profit Entities Topic 958: Updating the Definition of Collections a history organization does not need to recognize its collections as financial assets if all of the following criteria are met: A. The collections are held solely for public exhibition education or research in furtherance of public service rather than financial gain; B. they are protected kept unencumbered cared for and preserved; and C. they are subject to an organizational policy that requires proceeds realized from the sale of collections items be used for the acquisition of additional items for the collection the direct care of existing collections or both. The NYCSHS Archives meets all the above criteria and therefore does not recognize its archive collection as a financial asset.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 70% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 96.9%; rating input score 97
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: 20.4%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.45; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91% of revenue deployed · 96.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $162K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.