Connecticut · Nonprofit
FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM
FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM (Connecticut) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,709,195 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($522,537). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Fairfield Historical Society Dba Fairfield Museum does
Mission
The fairfield museum preserves and interprets the history of fairfield, ct and surrounding communities. Through changing exhibitions, school and public programs, the organization sparks dialogue, inspires meaningful collaborations, and deliberates the challenges of the future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Fairfield museum welcomes more than 37,000 visitors from throughout new england for a wide range of exhibitions, education programs, school visits and special events. More than 4,500 of those are students who visit on field trips from 65 schools throughout fairfield county to learn about their community and how they can be active and responsible citizens for the future. The museum offers more than 200 adult and family programs each year that provide important opportunities for individuals from different backgrounds with diverse opinions to come together to discuss critical issues facing our community and society at large.
$1,097,981 spent$104,105 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,097,981.
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 2020 to 2021, from $12M to $15M (+18%).
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: 2024 6% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Chief executive
Michael Jehle
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $146k → $272k.
12 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 60% 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 FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 funders by total. 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
FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
86% 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 FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 78% · 2019 69% · 2020 48% · 2021 24% · 2022 54% · 2023 33% — 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 FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
60% of FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD 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 $690k that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from Connecticut funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M 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
FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM is better cushioned than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $456k on record — $309k federal, $148k state.
- Department of the Interior$183k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$126k
- State Aid Grants$78k
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$69k
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 FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Charitable Remainder Trust · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD 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 FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM?
- FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM (Connecticut) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,709,195 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($522,537). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $1,709,195 in grants to FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $522,537 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FAIRFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY DBA FAIRFIELD MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Fairfield Historical Society Dba Fairfield 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 40 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