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Funding

California · Nonprofit

Design History Foundation Inc

Design History Foundation Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $894,250 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($500,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

$524k
Revenue FY2024
10
Funders on record
$894k
Grants received
$997k
Net assets
6/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 29%

Against its field

Design History Foundation Inc is better cushioned than half of the 17,904 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−36% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve8.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)8% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,904 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The 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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($308k) Expenses 100 ($353k) Net assets 100 ($236k)2018 Revenue 110 ($340k) Expenses 111 ($392k) Net assets 78 ($185k)2019 Revenue 131 ($405k) Expenses 113 ($397k) Net assets 82 ($193k)2020 Revenue 127 ($391k) Expenses 121 ($427k) Net assets 66 ($157k)2021 Revenue 147 ($453k) Expenses 126 ($446k) Net assets 69 ($163k)2022 Revenue 176 ($542k) Expenses 114 ($404k) Net assets 127 ($301k)2023 Revenue 460 ($1.4M) Expenses 155 ($548k) Net assets 496 ($1.2M)2024 Revenue 170 ($524k) Expenses 201 ($710k) Net assets 422 ($997k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (170)Expenses (201)Net assets (422)Peer revenue range

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: 2021 9% · 2022 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

98% of Design History Foundation Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,459 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$45k
17
$51k
18
$8k
19
$36k
20
$7k
21
$138k
22
$871k
23
$186k
24
8.0
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $500 → $412k.

2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)17% 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 Design History Foundation 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

Design History Foundation Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

56%
largest funder
84%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 50% · 2019 100% · 2020 49% · 2021 56% · 2022 62% · 2023 91%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

20% of Design History Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

Design History Foundation Inc draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 4 states in all.

IL
NY
CA
TX

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

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $150k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 10 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

Government funding Design History Foundation Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.

Federal$20k
grants $20kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$20k

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 Design History Foundation Inc

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In California

Nationally

04Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 9%Fundraising 5%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited financials

Public support

86%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

NY
CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Design History Foundation 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.

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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds Design History Foundation Inc?
Design History Foundation Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $894,250 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($500,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Design History Foundation Inc have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $894,250 in grants to Design History Foundation Inc, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Design History Foundation Inc?
THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Design History Foundation Inc 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.

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 10funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing