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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

Dedham Historical Society

Dedham Historical Society (Massachusetts) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $266,034 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($187,571). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$259k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$266k
Net assets
$7.3M
7/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What Dedham Historical Society does

Mission

Local community historical society, operation of a historical society building, museum, and library. Programs include exhibits, lectures, workshops, school programs and general community activities to promote dedham history

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Local community historical society. Operation of a historical society building, museum, and library. Programs include exhibits, lectures, seminars, workshops, bi-monthly newsletters, school programs, and general community activities to promote dedham history.

    $165,681 spent$169,800 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $165,681.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($197k) Expenses 100 ($180k) Net assets 100 ($7.1M)2018 Revenue 74 ($146k) Expenses 110 ($197k) Net assets 99 ($7.0M)2019 Revenue 117 ($231k) Expenses 90 ($162k) Net assets 102 ($7.2M)2020 Revenue 212 ($418k) Expenses 123 ($222k) Net assets 104 ($7.4M)2021 Revenue 97 ($191k) Expenses 122 ($220k) Net assets 105 ($7.4M)2022 Revenue 104 ($205k) Expenses 156 ($281k) Net assets 101 ($7.1M)2023 Revenue 83 ($164k) Expenses 132 ($237k) Net assets 102 ($7.2M)2024 Revenue 131 ($259k) Expenses 140 ($252k) Net assets 103 ($7.3M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (131)Expenses (140)Net assets (103)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $7.4M to $7.1M (−4%).

$7.1M
$7.0M
$7.2M
$7.4M
$7.4M
$7.1M
$7.2M
$7.3M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 24% · 2021 11%. 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 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$17k
’17
−$52k
’18
$69k
’19
$195k
’20
−$29k
’21
−$76k
’22
−$73k
’23
$7k
’24
11
months of
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

Johanna Mcbrien

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1314141818181517
Joined·+2+4+6+0+0+5+2
No longer listed·1420080
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income rose $8k → $43k.

2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 Dedham 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

Dedham Historical Society leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

79% 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 Dedham Historical Society.

71%
largest funder
93%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 69% · 2019 75% · 2020 60% · 2021 72% · 2022 77% · 2023 51% — 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

38% of Dedham Historical Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

71% of Dedham 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 $78k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.

IL
MA
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Massachusetts out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $188k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding Dedham Historical Society receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $103k on record.

State$103k
17
20
Top programs
  • (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$77k
  • (NN) INFRASTRUCTURE:$26k

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 Dedham 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 Massachusetts

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

70% of spending goes to programs.

Program 70%Management 18%Fundraising 12%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

91%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Dedham 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Dedham Historical Society?
Dedham Historical Society (Massachusetts) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $266,034 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($187,571). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Dedham Historical Society have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $266,034 in grants to Dedham Historical Society, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Dedham Historical Society?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $187,571 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Dedham Historical Society find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Dedham 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