California · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM
FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $108,912 to it, the largest being THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION ($50,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $78k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $109k
- Net assets
- $389k
What Friends of the Eastern California Museum does
Mission
Friends of the Eastern California Museum FECM is a nonprofit organization that provides short and long term financial and volunteer support to the Eastern California Museum ECM. Working in collaboration with ECM FECM supports ECMs mission to preserve and interpret the natural and cultural history of Inyo County and the Eastern Sierra from Death Valley to Mono Lake California. Contributions to FECM are used to aid in increasing ECMs value as a public educational institution to sponsor educational programs that encourage public awareness of Inyo Countys rich and diverse heritage and to provide monetary in-kind and volunteer help for ECM operations and programs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Cerro Gordo: Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley. Brent Underwood owner of Cerro Gordo Mines and author of the book named in the heading above was our presenter at the FECMs Annual Members Meeting Dinner. Brent shared his exciting and unique experiences including his research into the towns history his plans for reviving the once booming ghost town and how Cerro Gordo can be explored and visited by others.
$250 spent16% of program spendingPatsiata Its past present and future: A Driving Tour at Owens Lake. Inyo County educator naturalist and conservationist Mike Prather led a driving tour along the shore of Patsiata the indigenous name for Owens Lake. Mike an advocate since the 1980s for the protection and management of birds at Patsiata discussed the massive return of birds to the lake the lakes geology and natural history the results of human impact on the lake and its environs and the future of the Patsiata habitat.
$200 spent13% of program spendingA Journey Through Nevadas Past: Guided Tours of Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum and the Marjorie Russell Clothing & Textile Research Center. Chris Ann Gibbons Collections Curator and Melanie Smokey Education Curator of the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum lead tours respectively of the school itself its landscaped grounds and unique stone architecture and of the Museum and Cultural Center including its gallery and Research Room which houses archival documents photographs and publications about Stewarts history. Curator Jan Loverin shared valuable knowledge of the outstanding collection of historic costumes and textiles stored in the Marjorie Russell Clothing & Textile Research Center of the Nevada State Museum. Jan also shared her collection management and best practices expertise.
$500 spent31% of program spendingOral History Workshop. Eastern California Museum has revitalized the Oral History Program and FECM provided funds for a collaborative effort between the Museum the Friends and a consultant to train volunteers in interviewing techniques and well as the purchase of recorders for the Oral History program use. The 2025 Workshop was the first of many that will be held as needed to train more interviewers.
$650 spent41% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $1,600.
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.
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 $222k to $299k (+35%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $9k → $81k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM’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
FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 95%; 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: 2020 100% · 2021 83% · 2022 91% · 2023 62% — 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.
Where its funders are
FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $162 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.
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA 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 FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM?
- FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $108,912 to it, the largest being THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION ($50,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $108,912 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM?
- THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE EASTERN CALIFORNIA MUSEUM 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 6 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