Tryon Palace Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
561795949
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New Bern, NC, USA
Phone
2526393611
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,037,481
Expenses
$1,003,252
Assets
$9,633,044
Liabilities
$94,221

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MR RANDAL HUNTER (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MS ANNE SCHOUT (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MR JOE ANDERSON (DIRECTOR): $32,640 total reported compensation
  • MS CHRYSTAL REGAN ED (SECRETARY/TREASURER): $20,000 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 tryon palace foundation is to support the tryon palace historic sites and gardens by protecting, preserving, and developing the legacy of its historical past. We accomplish this through education of children and visitors from around the globe, by being good stewards of what has been entrusted to us and by ensuring its future for present and future generations.

What it reported doing in 2024

The foundation promotes and advocates for educational programming for adults and children.the palace scholars program helps to offset costs for field trips to tryon palace for title i schools. In 2024, more than $47,000 was awarded to 56 title i schools enabling approximately 4,000 students to take a field trip to tryon palace. Funded with a grant received from the anonymous trust, the palace scholars outreach program brings costumed interpreters into the classroom of title i schools who are unable to travel to tryon palace. The interpreters deliver lessons that focus on tryon palace's colonial history, as well as 18th century fiber arts and military life. In 2024, the costumed interpreters travelled to 18 schools and delivered living history lessons and hands-on demonstrations to nearly 1,700 students.in january and february 2024, the foundation worked in partnership with the craven community college lifetime learning center to bring 3 programs to tryon palace that focused on new bern history with speakers from nc dncr archives, tryon palace staff and a well-known eastern North Carolina historian.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 71% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 88
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 34.7%; rating input score 35
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $103.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th 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: 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 67%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.6; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.2%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 34.7% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 24 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $857K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $33K · 26 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2011 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.