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Michigan · Nonprofit

GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION

GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,686,479 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,083,200). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$12M
Funders on record
23
Grants received
$3.7M
Net assets
$72M
14/23 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 21%
01What it does

What Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation does

Mission

The primary role of the Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation is fundraising for the grand rapids public museum, but it also has overall responsibility for the current and long-term viability of the organization.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation's primary purpose is to raise funds and set the strategic direction of the grand rapids public museum which serves the public. The grand rapids public museum is responsible for the operation, management and maintenance of the museum's facilities and its collections, which are owned by the city of grand rapids.

    $2,826,514 spentof which $2,031,514 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,826,514.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.5M) Expenses 100 ($2.6M) Net assets 100 ($35M)2018 Revenue 106 ($1.6M) Expenses 34 ($885k) Net assets 107 ($38M)2019 Revenue 95 ($1.4M) Expenses 33 ($844k) Net assets 115 ($41M)2020 Revenue 95 ($1.4M) Expenses 31 ($807k) Net assets 117 ($41M)2021 Revenue 116 ($1.7M) Expenses 32 ($833k) Net assets 142 ($50M)2022 Revenue 215 ($3.2M) Expenses 61 ($1.6M) Net assets 132 ($47M)2023 Revenue 169 ($2.5M) Expenses 55 ($1.4M) Net assets 147 ($52M)2024 Revenue 285 ($4.3M) Expenses 62 ($1.6M) Net assets 168 ($59M)2025 Revenue 802 ($12M) Expenses 122 ($3.1M) Net assets 204 ($72M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (802)Expenses (122)Net assets (204)Peer revenue range

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 $60M to $74M (+24%).

$35M
$38M
$41M
$41M
$50M
$47M
$52M
$60M
$74M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

77% of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 812 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1.1M
’17
$710k
’18
$575k
’19
$623k
’20
$905k
’21
$1.6M
’22
$1.1M
’23
$2.7M
’24
$8.9M
’25
37
months of
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

Linsey Gleason

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed262627272725262530
Joined·+3+4+0+3+1+4+3+5
No longer listed·33033340
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $170k → $348k.

8 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION’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

GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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

57% 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 FOUNDATION.

29%
largest funder
58%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 68% · 2019 30% · 2020 55% · 2021 51% · 2022 41% · 2023 36% — broadly stable.

“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

38% of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

98% of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

MI
NC
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Michigan out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin74% · top quartile
Months of reserve36.7mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)30% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

90% of spending goes to programs.

Program 90%Management 5%Fundraising 6%

Governance

25
board members
96%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Grand Rapids Public Museum · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION: 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.

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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 FOUNDATION?
GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Michigan) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,686,479 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,083,200). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $3,686,479 in grants to GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,083,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC MUSEUM FOUNDATION 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.

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 23 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