Michigan · Nonprofit
BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC
BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC (Michigan) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $125,434 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($34,802). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $125k
- Net assets
- $3.8M
What Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan Inc does
Mission
The besser museum for ne michigan shall be a community resource that serves to inspire curiosity, foster community pride, and cultivate personal legacy. The museum shall through discovery, preservation, education and stewardship be an institution dedicated to serving the public of all ages and abilities in the art, history, and science of northeast michigan. The organization also maintains the only working planetarium in northern michigan.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Preservation of the museum and related artifacts - the organization maintains a collection of historic artifacts significant to northeast michigan heritage including five original historic structures, each over 100 years old, and two historic maritime vessels; the 1928 katherive v commerical fish tug and the 1947 retired dnr chinook research vessel.
$462,273 spent$36,957 earned by the program100% of program spendingEducational programs: besser museum's exhibits and programs focus on art, history and science. The museum offered virtual outreach programming via website and facebook platforms, and on-site tours to visitors of all ages seven days a week. Besser museum offered three different planetarium presentations five days a week. Currently preparing a new discover northeast michigan history exhibit to continue programming options for historical education.
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $462,273.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $3.1M to $3.9M (+28%).
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: 2020 12% · 2021 22% · 2022 7% · 2023 4% · 2024 6% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $12k → $35k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC’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
BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
69% 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 BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 87% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 68% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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
25% of BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
57% of BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC'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 $55k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $71k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Organizations like BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC: 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 BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC?
- BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC (Michigan) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $125,434 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($34,802). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $125,434 in grants to BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $34,802 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BESSER MUSEUM FOR NORTHEAST MICHIGAN INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan →
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 9 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