California · Nonprofit
Catalina Island Museum
Catalina Island Museum (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,826,100 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,265,250). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $28M
What Catalina Island Museum does
Mission
To collect, preserve and promote the culture and history of Santa Catalina Island and to bring unique exhibitions to Catalina.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Museum maintains a vibrant rotating special exhibition schedule that includes at least four art and/or history exhibitions per year. The William Wrigley Jr. Gallery also houses an exhibition that showcases the Museum's permanent collection, interpreting the history of Santa Catalina Island. The Museum's collection of over 160,000 historical items and artworks are collected, preserved, exhibited, and made accessible to researchers. Museum board and staff are working with community partners to implement new initiatives related to education, art, and serving underrepresented audiences. In alignment with this effort, the Museum is expanding its exhibition program to include more contemporary art, and to showcase Tongva culture and modern Tongva art.
$1,582,169 spent$255,334 earned by the program66% of program spendingThe museum provides educational programming and events that convene local residents and Island visitors in an exploration of the people and cultures that make Catalina unique. The Museum offers music and dance performances, lectures, films, and engaging art education programs for all ages. The Museum's education programs encourage K - 12 students to enjoy the creative process as they think critically, problem-solve, and engage with the Museum's unique collection. The Museum is expanding educational offerings to include new programming for K -12 students, family programs, and initiatives that increase engagement with the community and LA County residents. The new programs will focus on the Island's history, native Tongva culture, and the arts. In September 2022, the Museum started construction on a new 1,000 square-foot Education Center. These capital expansions will support plans to expand all programmatic components. Construction was completed in Spring of 2024.
$647,251 spent$37,573 earned by the program27% of program spendingThe store at the Catalina Island Museum is stocked with a carefully curated selection of jewelry and accessories, books, toys, tile and pottery, and gift items that reflect the island's unique history. Each unique store item is inspired by the landmarks and history of Santa Catalina Island, many of which have been created using images from our archive. Select store items also reflect the themes or content of the Museum's temporary exhibitions. Our Visitors Services Associates assist with sales of items, educating visitors about the Museum's offerings and orientating visitors within the Museum.
$167,806 spent$35,770 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,397,226.
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 2024 to 2025, from $17M to $28M (+65%).
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: 2021 8% · 2022 8% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of Catalina Island Museum’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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 broadened from 7 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $277k → $835k.
11 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 Catalina Island Museum’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
Catalina Island Museum leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
74% 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 Catalina Island Museum.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 57% · 2019 41% · 2020 26% · 2021 28% · 2022 29% · 2023 68% — 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
45% of Catalina Island Museum'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
74% of Catalina Island Museum'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 $746k that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from funders outside California, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
Catalina Island Museum runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Catalina Island Museum
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Sunnyslope Property Management Company LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Catalina Island Museum: 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 Catalina Island Museum?
- Catalina Island Museum (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,826,100 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,265,250). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Catalina Island Museum have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $2,826,100 in grants to Catalina Island Museum, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Catalina Island Museum?
- CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,265,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Catalina Island Museum find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Catalina Island Museum →
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 28 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