Vasa Order of America National Archives Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521244411
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Bishop Hill, IL, USA
Phone
3099273898
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
History Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$86,295
Expenses
$132,900
Assets
$1,203,016
Liabilities
$6,174

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHEILA LUNDQUIST (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KATHERYN CUFF (ARCHIVIST): $50,404 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 purpose of the archives the purpose, as described in the incorporation document, is for "educational, historical and research to preserve and display and make available records, documents, works of art, science, inventions and manufacture by persons of swedish ancestry and to promote public knowledge of an interest in the history of persons of scandinavian and particularly swedish ancestry." the main purpose is to preserve the records of the vasa order of america and its members. We have set up a family register where all vasa members and their families will be chronicled. The register is an important phase of our archival activities by assisting researchers find their ancestors. We aim at making the contents of the building interesting to all visitors. Therefore we have accepted a number of artifacts which relate to swedish and scandinavian immigrant history. These items provide visual and physical connections to past generations.

What it reported doing in 2024

After years of waiting and numerous requests, the vasa national archives now has a small percentage of our collections available online the upper Mississippi valley digital image archive allowed us to join their efforts to make archival collections available. With the help of a grant from the swedish council of america, we hired an intern during the summer of 2017 to help with getting a jump start with getting our collections online. The Illinois state historic records advisory board gave us a grant in 2018 to get 60 microfilms converted to digital and uploaded. In the summer of 2024, we will have an intern scanning and uploading vasa stars from the 1920s. This is something we work on as often as possible. Many of the items are from our microfilm collection. If you would like to help pay for a reel of microfilm to be converted to digital, please contact us. The digital library is hosted by the upper Mississippi digital image archive; lodges do not need to be in the upper Mississippi area to be included. You can visit our digital library here. While only a small portion of our collections can currently be accessed, we routinely work on improving current digital materials and adding new materials. If you'd like to help, please let us know as we are always on the lookout for new volunteers. We are busy processing the backlog of materials here and creating a detailed inventory of what materials we have. This inventory is called a finding aid. Our finding aid is a work in progress. We will be updating the finding aid available here as often as possible. You can find it here. Lennart setterdahl's swedish immigrant oral history interviews the vasa national archive is honored to be one of two research institutions to hold copies of lennart setterdahl's swedish immigrant oral history interviews. Lennart travelled across the us interviewing swedish-americans to collect their immigration stories and history in the us. Library the vasa national archive has a nearly 3,000 volume library of books on sweden, swedish-americans, immigration, and related topics. We are routinely adding to the collection and will be updating this list as often as possible. We are a non-lending library and materials must be used in- house. Feel free to search our library collection to see if we have a book you are interested in.

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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th 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; 64th 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: -54%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.05; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 37.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $105K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 28/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.