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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,049,127 to it, the largest being BALCH EDWIN SWIFT DECD T W ($2,424,153). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.2M
Funders on record
53
Grants received
$7.0M
Net assets
$31M
34/53 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 31%
01What it does

What Historical Society of Pennsylvania does

Mission

To inspire individuals and organizations to create a better future through historical understanding.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. History & historical programs, general/other operation of a preeminent united states archive and research library with collections from 1682 to the present, presenting exhibits, educational programs and publications on the history and changing diversity of our nation.

    $1,862,404 spent$137,863 earned by the program
    73% of program spending
  2. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania serves audiences through a variety of educational programming and research services, all stemming from its nationally significant archival collection. Programs include k-12 curricular material/field trips, genealogy workshops, panel discussions, and other scholarly programs. Research services include reading room research hours, research by mail, rights and reproductions, online collection content, research fellowships, and more.

    $698,358 spentof which $25,500 as grants
    27% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,560,762.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.7M) Expenses 100 ($3.8M) Net assets 100 ($30M)2018 Revenue 121 ($3.2M) Expenses 102 ($3.9M) Net assets 96 ($29M)2019 Revenue 76 ($2.0M) Expenses 106 ($4.1M) Net assets 87 ($26M)2020 Revenue 134 ($3.6M) Expenses 79 ($3.0M) Net assets 87 ($26M)2021 Revenue 140 ($3.7M) Expenses 78 ($3.0M) Net assets 102 ($31M)2022 Revenue 221 ($5.9M) Expenses 90 ($3.5M) Net assets 97 ($29M)2023 Revenue 175 ($4.7M) Expenses 96 ($3.7M) Net assets 101 ($30M)2024 Revenue 151 ($4.0M) Expenses 103 ($4.0M) Net assets 103 ($31M)2025 Revenue 121 ($3.2M) Expenses 99 ($3.8M) Net assets 105 ($31M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (121)Expenses (99)Net assets (105)

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 $27M to $31M (+15%).

$30M
$30M
$28M
$27M
$31M
$30M
$31M
$31M
$32M
'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

Government-grant reliance: 2018 2% · 2019 18% · 2020 10% · 2021 13% · 2022 11% · 2023 5% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1.2M
’17
−$711k
’18
−$2.1M
’19
$542k
’20
$732k
’21
$2.4M
’22
$969k
’23
$27k
’24
−$604k
’25
3.1
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

David Brigham

President & CEO

Board chair

Eric W Noll

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed363028262427263129
Joined·+2+0+2+9+4+1+7+0
No longer listed·824111222
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $448k → $1.3M.

6 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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

Historical Society of Pennsylvania leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 60%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

34%
largest funder
60%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 70% · 2019 40% · 2020 73% · 2021 32% · 2022 48% · 2023 34% — 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 Historical Society of Pennsylvania's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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

60% of Historical Society of Pennsylvania's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.

NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
MO
VA
MD

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $269k 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding Historical Society of Pennsylvania receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.2M on record.

Federal$1.2M
grants $1.2Mcontracts $0
18
19
20
23
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$823k
  • National Archives and Records Administration$142k
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$137k
  • Department of the Interior$90k

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 Historical Society of Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

67% of spending goes to programs.

Program 67%Management 21%Fundraising 12%

Governance

23
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

56%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

PA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Historical Society of Pennsylvania: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Historical Society of Pennsylvania?
Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,049,127 to it, the largest being BALCH EDWIN SWIFT DECD T W ($2,424,153). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Historical Society of Pennsylvania have?
IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $7,049,127 in grants to Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Historical Society of Pennsylvania?
BALCH EDWIN SWIFT DECD T W is the largest funder on record, with $2,424,153 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Historical Society of Pennsylvania find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Historical Society of Pennsylvania →

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 53 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