Virginia · Nonprofit
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH (Virginia) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,076,194 to it, the largest being PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC ($345,239). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $9.0M
What American Society of Overseas Research does
Mission
Asor, founded in 1900, is an international organization whose mission is to initiate, encourage, and support research into, and public understanding of, the history and cultures of the near east and wider mediterranean, from the earliest times by: fostering original research, exploration and archaeological fieldwork; encouraging scholarship in the region's languages, texts, traditions, and histories; disseminating research results and conclusions in a timely manner, through a robust publication program, annual meetings and other venues; adhering to the highest ethical standards of scholarship and public discourse; upholding the highest academic standards in interdisciplinary research and teaching; promoting educational opportunities for undergraduates and graduates in institutions of higher education around the world; developing engaging programs of outreach for the general public; supporting and participating in efforts to protect, preserve, and present to the public the historic and
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Fostering original research, archaeological excavations and explorations. Encouraging scholarship in the basic languages, cultural histories and traditions of the near eastern world. Promoting the educational goals of near eastern studies and disciplines, and by advocating high academic standards in teaching and interdisciplinary research. Maintaining an active program of timely dissemination of research results and conclusions. Offering educational opportunities in near eastern history and archaelolgy to undergraduates and graduates in north american colleges and universities. Developing engaging programs of outreach for the general public. Supporting and participating in efforts to protect, preserve, and present to the public the historical and cultural heritage of the near east and the wider mediterranean and to raise awareness of its degradation.
$1,611,043 spentof which $259,547 as grants$662,832 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,611,043.
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 2023 to 2024, from $7.3M to $9.0M (+24%).
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 21% · 2018 34% · 2019 10% · 2020 4% · 2021 13% · 2022 22% · 2023 33% · 2024 20% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
46% of AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Sheldon Fox
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $34k → $209k.
11 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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 SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 98% · 2019 28% · 2020 40% · 2021 71% · 2022 69% · 2023 77% — 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
40% of AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
81% of AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $209k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $868k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH is better cushioned than half of the 84 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 84 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.4M on record.
- Department of State$1.4M
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 SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH: 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 SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH?
- AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH (Virginia) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,076,194 to it, the largest being PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC ($345,239). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,076,194 in grants to AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH?
- PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC is the largest funder on record, with $345,239 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OVERSEAS RESEARCH find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 21 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing