Georgia · Nonprofit
Georgia Historical Society
Georgia Historical Society (Georgia) receives grants from 81 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,647,139 to it, the largest being THE SAVANNAH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($813,250). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.0M
- Funders on record
- 81
- Grants received
- $8.6M
- Net assets
- $38M
What Georgia Historical Society does
Mission
Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is the premier independent statewide institution responsible for collecting, examining, and teaching Georgia history. GHS houses the oldest and most distinguished collection of materials related exclusively to Georgia history in the nation. Founded in 1839 with the mission to collect, examine, and teach Georgia and American history through education and research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education and outreach programs - GHS teaches Georgia and American history to teachers, students, and general audiences through the delivery of professional development programs for educators (K-12 and college faculty), development and distribution of classroom resources for teachers, "Today in Georgia History, the annual Georgia History Festival. In addition, GHS makes history accessible to diverse audiences, including tourists, through the delivery of statewide lectures featuring nationally recognized historians, management of the statewide historical marker program, and through its affiliate chapter program which provides technical services and program support to local historical organizations statewide.
$2,803,615 spent$27,415 earned by the program63% of program spendingLibrary and archives services - a major research center, the GHS library and archives is home to the most distinguished collection of primary and secondary source materials related exclusively to Georgia history in the nation. Manuscript, map, artifact, portrait, and photo records are searchable via online research tools, including an online image database and OPAC. In addition, researchers (teachers, students, scholars, and history enthusiasts) are invited to conduct on-site research in the Hodgson Hall reading room where professional archivists and reference staff provide direct access to primary and secondary source materials held within the GHS collection.
$991,453 spent$30,139 earned by the program22% of program spendingTelling the Story of Georgia for Nearly Two Centuries: GHS has been publishing Georgia history almost since its founding and it remains committed to this vital part of our mission. In 1840, in an effort to facilitate research on Georgia history and increase access to its collections, GHS launched an ambitious publications program, which initially consisted of transcribing and publishing many of its most significant manuscripts. Since 1917 GHS has been publishing The Georgia Historical Quarterly, a scholarly publication featuring articles, book reviews, photo essays, and edited primary materials related to Georgia history. Today, the Quarterly is recognized as the journal of record for Georgia history and as one of the finest state historical publications in the nation.
$319,265 spent$38,188 earned by the program7% of program spendingAll other program services, including membership.
$320,404 spent$295,449 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,434,737.
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 2024 to 2025, from $36M to $41M (+16%).
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: 2017 9% · 2018 4% · 2019 6% · 2020 5% · 2021 8% · 2022 6% · 2023 6% · 2024 9% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Chief executive
Dr W Todd Groce
CEO & president
Board chair
David Abney
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $436k → $1.1M.
17 of 81 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.8M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Way of the Coastal Empire). These are real filings, and they are not money Georgia Historical Society raised.
From the IRS filings of Georgia Historical Society’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 81 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
Georgia Historical Society has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 9% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
39% 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 Georgia Historical Society.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 25% · 2019 18% · 2020 16% · 2021 21% · 2022 22% · 2023 27% — 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
48% of Georgia Historical Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
83% of Georgia Historical Society's grant income comes from Georgia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.
Government funding Georgia Historical Society receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $168k on record.
- National Archives and Records Administration$168k
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 Georgia 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 Georgia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 Georgia 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.
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 Georgia Historical Society?
- Georgia Historical Society (Georgia) receives grants from 81 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,647,139 to it, the largest being THE SAVANNAH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($813,250). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Georgia Historical Society have?
- IRS filings report 81 organizations giving $8,647,139 in grants to Georgia Historical Society, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Georgia Historical Society?
- THE SAVANNAH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $813,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Georgia Historical Society find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Georgia. 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 Georgia Historical Society →
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 81 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing