Where Most Needed

The Summit Daily (Colorado) reports that the board of the Frisco Historical Society (EIN 74-2293915 Form 990) has agreed with the IRS to dissolve the corporation after it repays about two years worth of payroll taxes. 

Executive director Rita Bartram, who had been in that position since 1999, neglected to send the tax checks to the IRS for herself and two part-time staff, even though they were recorded in the books.  Occasionally she would send a check, but without paperwork.  Board members has "an inkling" that something was amiss, but it was only last October that they learned that they were facing $14,000 in tax liability and $25,000 in penalties.  (The IRS can go after board members personally for unpaid payroll taxes, despite the fact that a corporation is involved.) 

Ms. Bartram relocated to Boulder without providing an explanation or an apology. 

The article provides a helpful history of how the organization started as a response to the rapid disappearance of the town's historical heritage.  Over time, though, the requirements of maintaining a park overshadowed the preservation tasks, which some board members felt put it into a role it was not suited for.  In recent years, the town has taken over the park operations, and now it will have to decide what to do with the site and the collection after the historical society dissolves. 

Similar problems of mission and budget are reported in nearby Breckinridge with the Summit Historical Society (EIN 84-0590891 Form 990).  It's certainly not conclusive, but the fact that their most recent Form 990 on Guidestar is from 2003 suggests that there might be problems with the IRS with that organization, as well. 

Small historical societies and heritage sites everywhere have a real challenge in funding and sustainability once the initial flush of enthusiasm wanes.  Unless the site is large enough to accommodate events like weddings as with the North Carolina lighthouse we reported on in April ("Nonprofit Gets the Lighthouse, Government Cleans the Restrooms"), there is no reliable source of income, and the town may or may not have the interest and resources to support the upkeep.