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Iowa · Nonprofit

HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC

HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC (Iowa) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,019,156 to it, the largest being THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION ($13,419,880). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$11M
Funders on record
37
Grants received
$21M
Net assets
$44M
26/37 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 46%
01What it does

What Historic Arnolds Park Inc does

Mission

PROVIDE & PRESERVE FAMILY FUN IN THE IOWA GREAT LAKES AREA through the operation of its historical amusement park, excursion boat, and maritime museum.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. To operate and preserve the historic arnolds park amusement rides, attractions, shops, and lake side properties in the iowa great lakes area for the public's use and enjoyment including sponsoring events, concerts and attractions that are free and open to the public.

    $8,942,825 spent$5,283,195 earned by the program
    91% of program spending
  2. To collect and preserve maritime artifacts and collectibles generally associated with the iowa great lakes area and to display the boating and maritime artifacts in our maritime museum that is free and open to the public to view on a year round basis. An official iowa welcome center is operated within the museum facility and had over 41,000 visitors during the year.

    $758,232 spent
    8% of program spending
  3. To operate and preserve the historic queen ii excursion boat in the iowa great lakes area for the public's use and enjoyment

    $78,255 spent$192,371 earned by the program
    1% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,779,312.

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 ($13M) Expenses 100 ($5.1M) Net assets 100 ($20M)2018 Revenue 92 ($12M) Expenses 113 ($5.8M) Net assets 131 ($27M)2019 Revenue 128 ($17M) Expenses 132 ($6.8M) Net assets 180 ($37M)2020 Revenue 88 ($12M) Expenses 141 ($7.3M) Net assets 201 ($41M)2021 Revenue 93 ($12M) Expenses 170 ($8.7M) Net assets 218 ($44M)2022 Revenue 83 ($11M) Expenses 214 ($11M) Net assets 218 ($44M)2023 Revenue 95 ($13M) Expenses 231 ($12M) Net assets 221 ($45M)2024 Revenue 84 ($11M) Expenses 247 ($13M) Net assets 214 ($44M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (84)Expenses (247)Net assets (214)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 2018 to 2019, from $28M to $38M (+33%).

$22M
$28M
$38M
$43M
$46M
$47M
$50M
$50M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

26% of HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 810 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$8.0M
’17
$6.3M
’18
$10M
’19
$4.3M
’20
$3.5M
’21
−$33k
’22
$627k
’23
−$1.6M
’24
0.7
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

Jonathan Pausley

CEO

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed12991010101010
Joined·+3+1+2+1+1+2+0
No longer listed·6111120
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 13 funders, grant income fell $1.2M → $1.2M.

12 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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: $2.0M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Park Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC raised.

From the IRS filings of HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC’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

HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

64%
largest funder
76%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 76% · 2019 92% · 2020 38% · 2021 75% · 2022 30% · 2023 52% — 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

27% of HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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

HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Iowa, across 10 states in all.

MN
SD
IA
NJ
NE
DE
AZ
TN
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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

HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC's revenue fell 16% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−14% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.7mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−2% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Organizations like HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC

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 Iowa

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

77% of spending goes to programs.

Program 77%Management 20%Fundraising 2%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

90%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • The Queen Lc · disregarded
  • Preservation Investors LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC: 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 HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC?
HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC (Iowa) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,019,156 to it, the largest being THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION ($13,419,880). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC have?
IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $21,019,156 in grants to HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC?
THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $13,419,880 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 Historic Arnolds Park →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), 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