Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $716,055 to it, the largest being CENTRE FOUNDATION INC ($201,670). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $343k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $716k
- Net assets
- $2.3M
What Centre County Historical Society does
Mission
Our mission is to discover, collect, preserve, interpret, educate, advocate, present, and promote the county's history and culture.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
1. The Centre County Historical Society's (CCHS) historic properties: Centre Furnace Mansion and the Boogersburg School. The operation, maintenance, preservation, and oversight of these properties is critical for all of the society's efforts.2. Engagement with membership and the public about the history and culture of Centre County through a quarterly publication, website, social media, the online Centre County Encyclopedia of History & Culture, elementary school and regular visitor tours, history talks, exhibitions, and events.3. Preservation and maintenance of archival and object collections that are available to researchers and the public year-round.
$178,876 spent100% of program spending4. Fostering and partnering with local and statewide organizations to promote and advocate for Centre County history and historic resources. Fostering and partnering with other organizations who maintain and promote history and culture of Centre County. 5. CCHS focuses first and foremost on preserving the recently restored Centre Furnace Mansion, historic Furnace Stack and surrounding grounds, on the National Register of Historic Places, that compose the most significant historical site in Centre county for the following reasons: A) They commemorate the birth of the iron industry in Centre County and environs. Centre furnace went into blast in 1792, the first iron furnace in what soon after became Centre County (in 1800) and the second in Central Pennsylvania.
B) Half a century later, Centre Furnace Mansion became the birthplace of The Penn State University. On June 26, 1855, a committee of the board of trustees of the newly chartered Farmers' High School Of Pennsylvania visited the site to view the proposal of 200 acres of land offered freely by Centre Furnace iron master Gen. James Irvin. On September 12, 1855, after viewing other proposed sites and after much debate, the trustees approved the motion of trustee president Frederick Watts to accept the Centre county site. The farmers' high school opened for collegiate instruction in 1859 and today has grown into the Pennsylvania State University, ranked among the top 100 global research universities.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $178,876.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.8M to $2.2M (+19%).
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 3% · 2018 4% · 2019 22% · 2020 13% · 2021 23% · 2022 9% · 2023 2% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Mary Sorensen
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $15k → $98k.
5 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY’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
CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% 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 CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 64% · 2019 52% · 2020 68% · 2021 35% · 2022 56% · 2023 31% — 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
50% of CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY'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
53% of CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY'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 $337k that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $380k 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.
Against its field
CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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 Pennsylvania
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
78%
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 CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: 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 CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $716,055 to it, the largest being CENTRE FOUNDATION INC ($201,670). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $716,055 in grants to CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- CENTRE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $201,670 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTRE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Centre County Historical Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 11 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