Cincinnati Fire Museum Association

Tax-deductible

Cincinnati, OH501(c)(3)Since 1980Arts & CultureEIN 31-0932419Revenue $251K in FY2025

On file with the IRS315 Court Street, 45202-1073 · Cincinnati, OHTax-exempt since Jul 1978Publicly supported — 509(a)(2)

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The preservation of materials related to Cincinnati firefighting history and promoting fire safety education.

501(c)(3) charity; gifts are tax-deductible.
53¢ of each $1 spent went to programs.
Run by 5 volunteers and 5 employees.
Mission: Form 990 Part I, line 1 · Status: IRS Pub. 78 · Programs: Part IX · People: Part I, lines 5–6

Before you give

FY2025 · Form 990Independent: from IRS data, not the org
Download 990
IRS status
501(c)(3)
not on the IRS revocation list
Looks good: listed by the IRS and not on the revocation list.
IRS BMF · Auto-Revocation List
Tax-deductible gifts
Yes
Donations are tax-deductible
Looks good: the IRS lists gifts to it as deductible.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS BMF
Latest return
FY2025
latest Form 990
Looks good: the latest return is for FY2025, 1 tax year back; within 2 tax years.
IRS e-file · Filing history
Surplus or deficit
4 of 5
filings with a surplus
Average surplus $16K a year · 6% of revenue · last 5 filings
Fine: a surplus in 4 of the last 5 filings.
Pt I · Ln 19 · 5 filings
Spent on programs
53%
of spending
Worth a look: 53% of spending went to programs; under 65%.
Pt IX · Ln 25 · col B
Pay to officers and key staff
$79K
to officers and key staff · 37% of spending
Top officer’s pay higher than 74% of similar orgs
Concern: pay to officers and key staff is 37% of spending; over 30%.
Pt VII · Sec A
Cash reserves
2 mo
of spending, in cash
Fine: 2.0 months of spending in cash; 1 to 3.
Pt X · Ln 1–2 · Pt I · Ln 18
Named funders
6
named funders · $52K
Looks good: 6 funders name it on their filings; 3 or more.
Funders’ Sch. I, 990-PF
Liabilities
$6K
4% of total assets
Looks good: liabilities are 4% of assets; 50% or less.
Pt X · Ln 26
Independent board members
21
of 21 voting members
Looks good: 21 of 21 voting members are independent, a majority.
Pt VI · Ln 1a–1b
Looks goodFineWorth a lookConcernNo data yetTap a box for the reason.
Revenue
$251K
-4% vs prior year
Spent
$213K
To programs
53%
Net assets
$147K
By yearFY2020–FY2025
Revenue
$251K
FY2025▼ -4%
Tap a bar for its year
Revenue by fiscal year
FY2020$172K
FY2021$213K
FY2022$308K
FY2023$236K
FY2024$262K
FY2025$251K
Expenses
$213K
FY2025▼ -15%
Tap a bar for its year
Expenses by fiscal year
FY2020Not on file
FY2021$187K
FY2022$294K
FY2023$249K
FY2024$249K
FY2025$213K
Net assets
$147K
FY2025▲ +31%
Tap a bar for its year
Net assets by fiscal year
FY2020$213K
FY2021$101K
FY2022$117K
FY2023$99K
FY2024$112K
FY2025$147K

From the FY2025 Form 990 · see the original

Form 990 (PDF) Claim

Is it real?

Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Jul 1978.

IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File

Where the money goes

53 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.

Program services 53% · $113K Management & general 28% · $60K Fundraising 19% · $40K

Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.

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Who runs it and what they're paid

22 people listed on the 990; $79K paid to officers and key staff.

Part VII, Section A · reportable compensation
Executive Director
$79,000Pt VII · Sec A
President, Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
VP, Treasurer, Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
Vice President, Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
Vice President, Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
Vice President, Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A

Sarah Strickland’s $79K as Executive Director is at the 74th percentile of top reported officer pay among 2216 $100K–1M arts & culture nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.

Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 2 named individuals · Part VII

NameFY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021FY2020
Sarah Strickland$79,000$80,000$78,000$73,304$71,573—
Thomas Hardy—————$66,963

Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.

See Cincinnati Fire Museum Association executive salaries →

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Questions the 990 asks

The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.

  • Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
  • Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes

Programs and updates

Preserves Cincinnati firefighting history and promotes fire safety education.

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Provided by the organization

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1 program · $113K · in their own filed words · FY2025
01

See breakdown in Parts VIII and IX

$113Kprogram expense

Funders

Who pays for it.

From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.

Grants

Schedule I · funders on record
Grants received · FY2024
See all 6 funders →

By the numbers

The FY2025 990, line by line.

1The main four
Money inPt VIII
$251K
Ln 12
Gifts and grantsLn 1h$162K
Fees for servicesLn 2g$54K
Other incomeLn 4–11$29K
Money outPt IX
$213K
Ln 25
Programscol B$113K
Managementcol C$60K
Fundraisingcol D$40K
Owns and owesPt X
$147K
net assets · Ln 32
Cash and savingsLn 1–2$36K
Total assetsLn 16$152K
LiabilitiesLn 26$6K
PeoplePt VI, VII
22
listed · VII A
PaidVII A1
Voting boardVI 1a21
IndependentVI 1b21
2In more detail
Revenue in detailPt VIII
Gifts and grantsLn 1h$162K
Government grantsLn 1e$0
Noncash giftsLn 1g$0
Fundraising eventsLn 1c$17K
Fees for servicesLn 2g$54K
Investment incomeLn 3$6K
Other incomeLn 4–11$29K
Total revenueLn 12$251K
Assets in detailPt X, end of year
CashLn 1$36K
Cash and savings togetherLn 1–2$36K
InvestmentsLn 11–13$110K
Total assetsLn 16$152K
LiabilitiesLn 26$6K
Net assetsLn 32$147K
OperationsPt I, VI
EmployeesI 55
VolunteersI 65
Fiscal year endsHeaderDecember
Conflict-of-interest policyVI 12aNo
Whistleblower policyVI 13No
Records policyVI 14No
3Year over year
Balance sheet, start vs end of yearPt X · col A, B
LineStart FY25End FY25
Cash and savingsLn 1–2$17K$36K
InvestmentsLn 11–13$98K$110K
Total assetsLn 16$114K$152K
LiabilitiesLn 26$3K$6K
Net assetsLn 32$112K$147K
4Every line
Statement of functional expensesPt IX · every line
LineTotalProgramsManagementFundraising
Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5$79K$20K$40K$20K
Other salaries and wagesLn 7$59K$44K$0$15K
Pension plan contributionsLn 8$3K$1K$1K$1K
Other employee benefitsLn 9$2K$645$645$645
Payroll taxesLn 10$10K$3K$3K$3K
Accounting feesLn 11c$6K$0$6K$0
Advertising and promotionLn 12$2K$2K$0$0
Office expensesLn 13$1K$400$672$372
Information technologyLn 14$3K$0$3K$0
OccupancyLn 16$33K$30K$3K$0
TravelLn 17$458$0$458$0
InterestLn 20$1K$624$625$0
InsuranceLn 23$13K$12K$1K$0
Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24−$369$0−$369$0
Total functional expensesLn 25$213K$113K$60K$40K

Filing history

YearMoney inMoney outIn minus outNet assetsDownload
FY2025 Latest Viewing $251K$213K$39K$147K 990 PDF
FY2024 $262K$249K$13K$112K 990 PDF
FY2023 $236K$249K−$14K$99K 990 PDF
FY2022 $308K$294K$14K$117K 990 PDF
FY2021 $213K$187K$26K$101K 990 PDF
FY2020 $172K$213K 990 PDF

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Schedules filed Part IV

III · Programs I · Grants R · Related orgs G · Fundraising L · Interested persons A · Public support F · Foreign M · Noncash
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $251,419 revenue, 12 lines filed
I-8 Contributions and grantsPrior year $167,119$161,583
I-9 Program service revenuePrior year $53,324$54,401
I-10 Investment incomePrior year $5,822$6,032
I-11 Other revenuePrior year $35,994$29,403
I-12 Total revenuePrior year $262,259$251,419
I-13 Grants and similar amounts paid$0
I-14 Benefits paid to members$0
I-15 Salaries and benefitsPrior year $158,042$153,191
I-16a Professional fundraising fees$0
I-17 Other expensesPrior year $91,220$59,697
I-18 Total expensesPrior year $249,262$212,888
I-19 Revenue less expensesPrior year $12,997$38,531
Part VI · Governance 21 of 21 board members independent, 3 to look at
VI-1a Voting members of the governing body21
VI-1b Independent voting members21
VI-12a Written conflict of interest policyNo
VI-13 Written whistleblower policyNo
VI-14 Document retention and destruction policyNo
VI-2 Family or business relationship among officers or directorsNo
VI-15a Process for setting top official's payYes
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $251,419 across 13 lines filed
Lines not itemized here account for $14,539 of total revenue; see the IRS return.
VIII-1a Federated campaigns$21,538
VIII-1b Membership dues$5,770
VIII-1c Fundraising events$17,446
VIII-1d Related organizations$0
VIII-1e Government grants$0
VIII-1f All other contributions, gifts and grants$116,829
VIII-1g Noncash contributions (included above)$0
VIII-1h Total contributions, gifts and grants$161,583
VIII-2a-f Program service revenue, itemized rows (sum of 2a–2f as filed)Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$54,401
VIII-3 Investment incomeUnrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$6,032
VIII-6 Net rental income or lossRelated to mission $14,675$14,675
VIII-11a-d Other revenue, itemized rows (sum of 11a–11d as filed)Related to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$189
VIII-12 Total revenueRelated to mission $89,647 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$251,419
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $212,888 across 14 lines filed
IX-5 Pay of current officers, directors and key staffPrograms $19,750 · Management $39,500 · Fundraising $19,750$79,000
IX-7 Other salaries and wagesPrograms $43,934 · Management $0 · Fundraising $14,644$58,578
IX-8 Pension plan contributionsPrograms $1,094 · Management $1,094 · Fundraising $1,094$3,282
IX-9 Other employee benefitsPrograms $645 · Management $645 · Fundraising $645$1,935
IX-10 Payroll taxesPrograms $3,465 · Management $3,465 · Fundraising $3,466$10,396
IX-11c Accounting feesPrograms $0 · Management $6,092 · Fundraising $0$6,092
IX-12 Advertising and promotionPrograms $1,837 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$1,837
IX-13 Office expensesPrograms $400 · Management $672 · Fundraising $372$1,444
IX-14 Information technologyPrograms $0 · Management $2,741 · Fundraising $0$2,741
IX-16 OccupancyPrograms $30,005 · Management $3,334 · Fundraising $0$33,339
IX-17 TravelPrograms $0 · Management $458 · Fundraising $0$458
IX-20 InterestPrograms $624 · Management $625 · Fundraising $0$1,249
IX-23 InsurancePrograms $11,615 · Management $1,291 · Fundraising $0$12,906
IX-24 Other expenses (24a–d)Programs $0 · Management −$369 · Fundraising $0−$369
IX-25 Total functional expensesPrograms $113,369 · Management $59,548 · Fundraising $39,971$212,888
Part X · Balance sheet $152,465 assets, 11 lines filed
X-1 Cash, non-interest-bearingStart of year $16,558$36,324
X-4 Accounts receivable$5,150
X-9 Prepaid expenses and deferred charges$986
X-11 Publicly traded securitiesStart of year $97,749$110,005
X-16 Total assetsStart of year $114,307$152,465
X-17 Accounts payable and accrued expensesStart of year $2,710$3,861
X-25 Other liabilities$2,067
X-26 Total liabilitiesStart of year $2,710$5,928
X-27 Net assets without donor restrictionsStart of year $111,597$146,537
X-32 Total net assets or fund balancesStart of year $111,597$146,537
X-33 Total liabilities and net assetsStart of year $114,307$152,465
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $146,537 net assets at year end
XI-1 Total revenue$251,419
XI-2 Total expenses$212,888
XI-3 Revenue less expenses$38,531
XI-4 Net assets at start of year$111,597
XI-5 Net unrealized gains (losses) on investments−$3,591
XI-10 Net assets at end of year$146,537

Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File

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