Massachusetts · Nonprofit
HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC
HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,136,627 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,112,900). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 63
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $88M
What Historic Deerfield Inc does
Mission
Historic deerfield welcomes all to experience one of the best-preserved villages and rural landscapes in north america through dynamic encounters with the stories, cultures, and material worlds of those who have made new england home.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Historic deerfield is a unique museum which maintains 56 buildings (12 of which are open to the public) and focuses on the significance of small-town america to our national culture. Historic deerfield offers a broad range of programming related to the core areas of its mission: historic preservation, material culture studies, and natural history. The museum offers a wide range of public programming including summer evening strolls (walking tours) that highlight deerfield architecture, burying grounds, and history. In addition, lectures are given on a variety of historically relevant topics. In addition to public programs, historic deerfield also offers numerous demonstrations of historic trades such as broom making, coopering, furniture making, and architectural woodworking. This past year, the museum added 260 objects to the collection of approximately 32,000 artifacts and welcomed over 10,000 visitors and approximately 3,300 program participants.
$2,534,406 spentof which $14,395 as grants$224,030 earned by the program33% of program spendingHistoric deerfield's public historian develops and oversees the annual lecture series in history and collaborates to create programs for general and academic audiences. Academic programs focus on the interdisciplinary use of history and related fields with a commitment to increasing attendance, expanding museum audiences, and fostering historic deerfield's affiliation with five colleges, inc. As well as other college faculty members and museum staff at other institutions. The public historian teaches a course in material culture for undergraduate and graduate students in the five colleges offered through smith college and directs historic deerfield's summer fellowship program. The summer fellowship program was established in 1956. This nine-week residential program is designed for undergraduate students, rising seniors, and graduating seniors. Seven fellows completed the program this fiscal year and over 470 have completed the program since its inception. Approximately 75% of summer fellows pursue careers in the museum or material culture fields. The library added 129 items to its collection of over 25,000 items during fiscal year 2025.
$1,672,151 spent22% of program spendingThe deerfield inn was purchased in 1945 by henry and helen geier flynt, the founders of what is now known as historic deerfield, inc. They envisioned historic deerfield as a quintessential rural new england village with authentic historic buildings dating back to 1714. Historic deerfield is a destination; it is more than simply touring a house or attending a lecture. Rather, it is an experience that encompasses walks along old main street, recreation, learning, meals, and perhaps an overnight stay. In addition to the stories, we tell of the people who lived here, a range of other educational opportunities exists as education has always been and remains a strong component of historic deerfield's mission. The deerfield inn supports these museum activities as it caters for events and meals, houses and feeds speakers, program participants, and visitors. It is also an important backdrop for development activities. This past year, the inn welcomed over 7,300 guests and champneys restaurant served over 60,000 guests.
$3,464,144 spent$3,434,326 earned by the program45% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,670,701.
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 2020 to 2021, from $61M to $77M (+27%).
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: 2021 11% · 2022 6% · 2023 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
John H Davis
CEO/president
Board chair
Joseph Gromacki
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $26k → $493k.
14 of 63 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 63 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 DEERFIELD INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
68% 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 HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 46% · 2019 71% · 2020 35% · 2021 38% · 2022 22% · 2023 38% — 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
31% of HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
59% of HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.3M that is directly attributable, 56% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 18 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC's revenue grew 54% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $715k on record — $265k federal, $450k state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$265k
- MA$448k
- VT$2k
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 HISTORIC DEERFIELD 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 HISTORIC DEERFIELD 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.
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 DEERFIELD INC?
- HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 63 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,136,627 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,112,900). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC have?
- IRS filings report 63 organizations giving $3,136,627 in grants to HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,112,900 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HISTORIC DEERFIELD INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Deerfield →
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 63 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