New York · Nonprofit
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History (New York) receives grants from 658 organizations whose IRS filings report $209,914,671 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,641,341). 424 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $247M
- Funders on record
- 658
- Grants received
- $210M
- Net assets
- $1.1B
What American Museum of Natural History does
Mission
The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Science - since its founding, the museum has pursued a scientific research program to advance understanding of the biological, physical, and cultural world. The museum's full-time scientific staff of approx. 170 work in biological sciences, paleontology, astrophysics, earth and planetary sciences, anthropology, and publish in peer-reviewed journals. Annually, amnh scientists conduct more than 50 expeditions, enhancing the museum's collection of more than 30 million specimens and artifacts. The museum offers its ph.d. And master's programs through its gilder graduate school, the only freestanding ph.d. And mat degree program of any museum in the u.s.
$94,824,864 spentof which $3,997,492 as grants$704,302 earned by the program41% of program spendingEducation and public programs - the museum welcomed over 291,000 field trip participants in fy25. High school and college students participate in programs that provide exploration of science and museum careers. Educator professional learning programs served thousands of teachers onsite and online. Urban advantage, a science education program reached 87,240 students from 324 schools across nyc. The museum's mat program helps train earth science teachers for placement in high needs schools. Lectures and public events provide opportunities for public engagement with science topics.
$73,788,342 spentof which $2,147,916 as grants$36,452,644 earned by the program32% of program spendingExhibition - the museum is open to the public 363 days a year with more than 40 permanent exhibition halls. The museum has a robust schedule of special exhibitions and planetarium shows it designs and produces, which also travel to venues around the u.s. And internationally, supplemented with educational content, and other web-based resources for learning.
$63,022,513 spent27% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $231,635,719.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $1.5B to $1.8B (+17%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 12% · 2018 15% · 2019 15% · 2020 21% · 2021 33% · 2022 28% · 2023 29% · 2024 20% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of American Museum of Natural History’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (56% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Scott L Bok
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 192 funders to 276 funders, grant income fell $31M → $24M.
28 of 658 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $3.6M from 13 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Jewish Communal Fund). These are real filings, and they are not money American Museum of Natural History raised.
From the IRS filings of American Museum of Natural History’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 658 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
American Museum of Natural History has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left
34% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund American Museum of Natural History.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 40% · 2019 34% · 2020 12% · 2021 28% · 2022 14% · 2023 22% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
44% of American Museum of Natural History's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
69% of American Museum of Natural History's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $68M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
American Museum of Natural History is better cushioned than half of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding American Museum of Natural History receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $72.5M on record.
- National Science Foundation$41.8M
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$19.7M
- Department of Education$4.6M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$2.8M
- Department of Defense$1.6M
- Department of Commerce$1.3M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like American Museum of Natural History
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 26 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Amer Mus Natl Hist Planetarium Authority · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for American Museum of Natural History: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds American Museum of Natural History?
- American Museum of Natural History (New York) receives grants from 658 organizations whose IRS filings report $209,914,671 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,641,341). 424 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does American Museum of Natural History have?
- IRS filings report 658 organizations giving $209,914,671 in grants to American Museum of Natural History, 424 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of American Museum of Natural History?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $50,641,341 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like American Museum of Natural History find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 658 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing