Grants for historical societies

Name: Top 25 grants made to historical societies and organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

2,974 historical societies and organizations received at least $60.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 3,555 grants made from 2,310 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 2,310 foundations, 76% made just a single grant to historical societies, and 4% made grants to four or more historical societies. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$60,630,312

Total grant dollars given to historical societies

3,555

Number of grants made annually to historical societies

2,310

Number of grantmakers funding historical societies

$1,000

Median grant size to historical societies

Foundations that support historical societies and organizations

Out of all grants made to historical societies, 80% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 90% of the dollar-value of grants to historical societies. Foundations funding historical societies also made grants to history museums, art museums, theaters, high schools, and universities.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	1,849
Medium	288
Large	172

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	57
Private	2,023
Corporate	100
Other	130

Grants made

Grants made to historical societies	Number of grantmakers
1	1,766
2-3	439
4-10	92
11+	13

Top 10 foundations supporting historical societies and organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to historical societies	Number of grants made to historical societies	Median grant size
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.2%	68	$1,000
The William G Pomeroy Foundation	NY	State	2.8%	58	$1,100
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.1%	35	$500
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.1%	23	$1,625
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.1%	21	$2,000
Alliant Energy Foundation	WI	State	0.4%	19	$400
Indiana Humanities Council	IN	State	11.8%	17	$5,000
Greater Hudson Heritage Network	NY	State	7.4%	16	$525
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	0.1%	15	$100
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	14	$50

See all grantmaking to historical societies

Historical societies and organizations grantees

Historical societies with more than $5 million in total revenues received 91% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 12% of all historical societies.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	3,551
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	4

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,000
$500k-$1M	$1,000
$1M-$5M	$1,163
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	522
Massachusetts	253
Pennsylvania	173
Ohio	164
Other	2,443

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	368
Washington DC	138
Boston	134
Providence	133
Other	2,062

Top 25 grants made to historical societies

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
San Francisco Public Library.	$16,750,000	General Support	Internet Archive
San Francisco Public Library.	$16,750,000	FMV	Internet Archive
San Francisco Public Library.	$16,750,000	FMV	Internet Archive
Edward M Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate	$4,000,000	Serve People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities	Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation
El Dorado County Historical Society	$5,000	Joint Publications	El Dorado Museums Foundation
Historic Denver	$5,000	Molly Brown House Project	Buell Foundation
Ausable Club Preservation Foundation	$5,000	General & Unrestricted	Eberstadt Family Foundation
Gillespie County Historical Society	$5,000	Teaching and Preservation of Local Culture and Heritage of Fredericksburg and Gillespie County, Texas	Oktoberfest / Pedernales Creative Arts Alliance
Friends of Independence National	$5,000	Assistance for Charitable Purpose	Foundation for Individual Liberty
Sylvester Manor Educational Farm	$5,000	To Preserve, Cultivate and Share Historic Sylvester Manor To Ensure That Food and Art Remain Connected To Community and the Land.	The Orchard Farm Foundation
Wreaths Across America	$5,000	Program Expenses	The Phyllis L Schoener Foundation
The Municipal Art Society of New York	$5,000	General Fund	Rifkind Family Foundation
The New York Landmarks Conservancy	$5,000	Charitable	Reed Foundation
Given Memorial Library	$5,000	General & Unrestricted	Thomas R and Kathy S McPherson Family foundation
Historic Odessa Foundation	$5,000	General	Dean Foundation
Facing History and Ourselves	$5,000	General Support of Facing History	Shimon Ben Joseph Foundation
Elkhorn City Area Heritage Council	$5,000	Remote Area Medical Donation	Pikeville Medical Center (PMC)
Stratford Hall	$5,000	General Support	Mary Jane Hipp Brock Family Foundation
Historic Fraser	$5,000	No Restrictions	Sprout Foundation
Historic Oakland Foundation	$5,000	Contribution	TW Price Gilbert JR Charitable Fund
Oregon Historical Society	$5,000	Provide Support To Build the State History Material Collection	The Wendy Foundation
New York Yacht Club Foundation	$5,000	General Support	Winifred M Purdy Foundation
New Canaan Historical Society	$5,000	General Purpose	MLE Foundation
Hawaiian Mission Houses (HMH)	$5,000	General Purpose	MLE Foundation
National Trust for Historic Preservation	$5,000	General Purpose	MLE Foundation

See all grants to historical societies

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Historical societies" category for this page is determined by the "A80: Historical Societies, Historical Preservation" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.