Michigan · Nonprofit
GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM
GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM (Michigan) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,756,083 to it, the largest being STEVE & AMY VAN ANDEL FOUNDATION ($400,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $32M
What Grand Rapids Public Museum does
Mission
The grpm exists to be a living monument of artifacts, ideas and stories told through exhibitions, events, and educational programming designed to inspire, motivate and celebrate our human bond. We enrich the lives of our community through experiences of the wider world in a uniquely grand rapids context. Our vision is to inspire passionate curiosity and a deeper understanding of the world around us.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The grpm offers a wide variety of programs and services for visitors of all ages focusing on history, science and culture. In addition to three floors of core exhibits, the grpm offers a rotating selection of temporary exhibits. The chaffee planetarium provides visitors with an immersive experience that explores the wonders of space and the universe. Educational and public programs are offered for students of all ages, including field trips, workshops, and summer camps. The museum's collection features over 250,000 artifacts and specimens from a variety of fields, including anthropology, natural history, and more. The digital strategy is focused on making the museum's collection and educational content more accessible using new interactive technologies. The museum hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including lectures, concerts, and family-friendly activities. The grpm provides outreach services to schools and community organizations, bringing educational resources and programming to underserved areas. The museum's staff and scholars engage in research related to the museum's collections, contributing to the field of knowledge in a variety of disciplines.
$7,898,474 spent$1,481,955 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,898,474.
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 2022 to 2023, from $12M to $23M (+97%).
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 47% · 2018 58% · 2019 61% · 2020 69% · 2021 80% · 2022 69% · 2023 84% · 2024 66% · 2025 75%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
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
Dale Robertson
President/CEO
Board chair
Marlin Feyen
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $183k → $251k.
5 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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: $3.2M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM raised.
From the IRS filings of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
31% 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 GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 37% · 2019 40% · 2020 51% · 2021 37% · 2022 21% · 2023 40% — 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
67% of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC 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
95% of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $413k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$640k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$266k
- Department of the Interior$150k
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 GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC 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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC 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 GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM?
- GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM (Michigan) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,756,083 to it, the largest being STEVE & AMY VAN ANDEL FOUNDATION ($400,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $2,756,083 in grants to GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM?
- STEVE & AMY VAN ANDEL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Grand Rapids Public 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 37 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