Wheels O' Time Museum

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
815145833
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Dunlap, IL, US
Phone
309-243-9020
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Museum, Museum Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$390,528
Expenses
$278,659
Assets
$2,110,293
Liabilities
$244

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TRENT WILLIAM B (PRESIDENT)
  • NELSON DAVID (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • EVANCHO LAURA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • KLEIN DIANA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • EVANCHO LAURA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $41,250 total reported compensation
  • KLEIN DIANA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $25,000 total reported compensation

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 Wheels O' Time Museum is to preserve and interpret the history of transportation and technology for the education and enjoyment of the public.

What it reported doing in 2025

Wheels o' time museum operates a museum. The museum has many hands-on displays with many opportunities to sit in the historic vehicles and handle historic artifacts. Volunteers and staff are available to answer visitors' questions. The museum has a small gift shop that sells items related to the displays to provide visitors the opportunity to take home a memento of their visit.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% 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 - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 55
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.9%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 65.8%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 26th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 28.6%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.57; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 52.9% of revenue deployed · 65.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $183K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $41K · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.