Western Reserve Fire Museum at Cleveland Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
341590214
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2011
Location
Cleveland, OH, USA
Phone
2166646312
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$223,371
Expenses
$201,182
Assets
$1,611,400
Liabilities
$71,673

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN A ZANGERLE ESQ (PRESIDENT)
  • JAMES F BYRNE (VICE PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JOHN A ZANGERLE ESQ (PRESIDENT)
  • ELAINE M STRAUB (DIRECTOR)
  • DANIEL MARTONE (DIRECTOR)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide a first-class regional fire museum and education center to dramatically increase fire safety programming and reduce the number of fire deaths and injuries in northeast Ohio.it is also to preserve the history of the fire service by collecting historically significant fire-related material, and preserving its historical building, formerly the cleveland fire alarm office and station #28 located at 310 carnegie avenue, cleveland Ohio

What it reported doing in 2024

The western reserve fire museum at cleveland, inc. Continues to progress towards becoming a first class fire museum and education center in downtown cleveland, Ohio. The first floor of the building located at 310 carnegie avenue, cleveland Ohio opened on december 27, 2017, and the second floor opened on october 01, 2024.

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 - 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 some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 64.7%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $497.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.9%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.01; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63% of revenue deployed · 64.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $130K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.