Massachusetts · Nonprofit
Design Museum Foundation Inc
Design Museum Foundation Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $554,520 to it, the largest being The Klarman Family Foundation ($180,938). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $240k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $555k
- Net assets
- $-608301
What Design Museum Foundation Inc does
Mission
To inspire social change through the transformative power of design through public programming, education initiatives,and publications.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Design Museum Foundation (DBA CoDesign Collaborative) produces public programming in the form of workshops, forums, field trips and community meetups in the Greater Boston area and in Portland, Oregon. Our workshops provide practical tools, strategies, and learning that strengthen creative leaderships. Forums are in person and virtual conversations with thought leaders, platforming the designs impact on people, systems, and the world. Field Trips are organized visits to innovation hubs that connect our community to the creative minds and spaces redefining the boundaries of design and social impact. Our community meetup or Third Space events provide a structured way for our community and the public to connect with others, build relationships, and foster a sense of community while participating in hands-on creative making.
$43,014 spent34% of program spendingCoDesign Collaborative hosts two ongoing educational programs. The Current is a virtual, student-led lightning talk series that highlight vital topics in design. College-level students invite a professional leader to engage in a fireside conversation on a topic related to design and social impact. Through these student-curated conversations, we met the emerging voices shaping the future of design and the creative leaders at the forefront of design impact. The CoDesign Student Challenge is an annual summer program that provides teens with hands-on design education in partnership with leading brands, industry professionals, and clients. Design Educators lead students through a two-part workshop, prototyping concepts and realizing innovative designs. The students are compensated for their time in line with CoDesign Collaboratives commitment to equity. Design Educators lead students through a two-part workshop, prototyping concepts and realizing innovative designs.
$41,803 spent33% of program spendingDesign Museum Foundation (DBA CoDesign Collaborative) produces a biannual publication under the title, Unfold (formerly Design Museum Magazine). Each edition of the magazine highlights a vital topic in design, featuring a Guest Editor, and expert contributors, who write in-depth, feature-length articles. Each issue of Unfold is printed and also published on CoDesign Collaboratives website. Select articles are made available at no cost to the general public.
$41,719 spent33% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $126,536.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2021 to 2022, from $773k to $348k (−55%).
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 12% · 2022 17% · 2023 14% · 2024 33% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of Design Museum Foundation Inc’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. 6 of the last 7 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
Maria Villafranca
Interim Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $23k → $72k.
8 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 Museum 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 Museum Foundation Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 51% · 2019 37% · 2020 39% · 2021 40% · 2022 39% · 2023 44% — 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
21% of Design Museum Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
85% of Design Museum Foundation Inc's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $132k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Design Museum Foundation Inc's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Design Museum Foundation Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $396k on record — $190k federal, $206k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$190k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$206k
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 Museum Foundation 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
51% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 Design Museum 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.
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 Design Museum Foundation Inc?
- Design Museum Foundation Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $554,520 to it, the largest being The Klarman Family Foundation ($180,938). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Design Museum Foundation Inc have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $554,520 in grants to Design Museum Foundation Inc, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Design Museum Foundation Inc?
- The Klarman Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $180,938 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Design Museum Foundation Inc 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 Design Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 18 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