Lehigh County Historical Society

“The collections, which were acquired through purchases and contributions since the organization's inception, are not recognized as assets on the statement of financial position. Purchase of collection items are recorded as decreases in unrestricted net assets in the year in which the items are acquired or as temporarily or permanently restricted net assets if the assets used to purchase the items are restricted by donors. Contributed collection items are not reflected in the financial statements. Proceeds from deaccessions or insurance recoveries are reflected as increases in the appropriate net asset classes. The collections are subject to a policy that requires proceeds from their sales to be used to acquire other items for collections or for the preservation of existing collections.”

“The organization's collections are made up of artifacts of historical significance, scientific specimens, and art objects that are held for educational, research, scientific, and curatorial purposes. Each of the items is cataloged, preserved and cared for, and activities verifying their existence and assessing their condition are performed continuously. As part of its collections, the organization holds title to the following properties: claussville school house, troxell-steckel house, gruber house, reninger house, trout hall and allen park.”

“The organization invests the endowment funds to produce long-term capital growth generating comparable returns to current market indices. The organization is permitted to spend the earnings of the fund at its discretion.”

“The organization is a not-for-profit organization that is exempt from income taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code. The accounting standard for uncertainty in income taxes addresses the determination of whether tax benefits claimed or expected to be claimed on a tax return should be recorded in the financial statements. Under that guidance, the organization may recognize the tax benefits from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by taxing authorities based on the technical merits of the position. Examples of tax positions include the tax-exempt status of the organization and various positions related to the potential sources of unrelated business taxable income (ubit). The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. There were no unrecognized tax benefits identified or liabilities recorded for the fiscal years 2016 and 2015. The organization files its 990 with the united states internal revenue service and with the bureau of charitable organizations in pennsylvania. The organization is generally no longer subject to examination by the internal revenue service for years before 2012.”

“Change in value of outside perpetual trusts -108,187.”