Washington · Nonprofit
Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry
Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry (Washington) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,196,868 to it, the largest being RAYMOND JAMES CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT FUND ($1,307,867). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.5M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $67M
What Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry does
Mission
Collect and preserve the diverse history of Seattle, the Puget Sound region and beyond. Highlighting innovation and education, MOHAI enriches lives by sharing the individual and collective stories of our communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) is treasured locally and respected nationally as a vibrant resource where history inspires people to be their best, individually and collectively. The museum is located in Lake Union Park, in the South Lake Union Area of Seattle, Washington.MOHAI is the largest private heritage organization in the state of Washington. By collecting and preserving artifacts and stories of the Puget Sound Region's diverse history, MOHAI highlights the region's tradition of innovation and imagination. Through compelling exhibits, scholarship, education, public programs, and community engagement, MOHAI bridges the past, present, and future.
$6,303,701 spent$1,215,414 earned by the program100% of program spendingIn 2024, MOHAI welcomed more than 107,000 visitors and participants through a robust calendar of exhibits, programs, and community events. Highlights included major exhibitions such asRoots of Wisdom(developed with the Smithsonian Institution and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry [OMSI]),Pulling Together, and the international blockbuster LEGO exhibition that set new attendance records. MOHAI also marked milestone anniversaries with exhibitions celebrating the Seattle Junior League, Seattle Pride, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the WTO protests, as well as the debut of(Almost) An Exhibit, honoring the local television show Almost Live.
More than 60 percent of attendees received free or significantly reduced admission, including all youth under the age of fifteen who receive free admission every day at MOHAI, students, seniors, and military members, and visitors to MOHAI through one of our admission-accessibility programs, like TeenTix, Museums for All, the Library Museum Pass program, the MOHAI Access Pass, Free First Thursday, and the Open Doors program. MOHAI also expanded scholarship support and free transportation for school groups, broadened digital access to programs, and maintained a strong media presence across traditional and digital platforms. Through these efforts, the museum remained committed to equity, accessibility, and sharing Seattles diverse stories with the community and beyond.
MOHAI's offerings for youth include on-site museum field trips, artifact trunk rentals, in-class programs, teacher trainings, and online lesson plans to help teachers introduce students to local history, as well as summer camps for kids. MOHAI's offerings for adults and families include guided programs in the museum and in Seattle neighborhoods, as well as lectures and talks on local history, and seasonal festivities and programs in the museum's lakeside setting in Lake Union Park. Visitors to Lake Union Park are welcomed free of charge to MOHAI's restrooms, caf, and retail shop throughout the year.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,303,701.
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 2017 to 2018, from $70M to $65M (−7%).
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 9% · 2018 17% · 2019 10% · 2020 28% · 2021 36% · 2022 7% · 2023 7% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $80k → $318k.
10 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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: $4.6M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest MOHAI Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry raised.
From the IRS filings of Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry’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
Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
98% 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 Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 57% · 2019 43% · 2020 48% · 2021 58% · 2022 33% · 2023 41% — 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
55% of Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
94% of Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry'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 $188k that is directly attributable, 72% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M 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
Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry's revenue grew 49% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $621k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$361k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$250k
- Smithsonian Institution$10k
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 Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
48%
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 2 related entities
- MOHAI Leasing LLC · disregarded
- MOHAI Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry: 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 Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry?
- Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry (Washington) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,196,868 to it, the largest being RAYMOND JAMES CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT FUND ($1,307,867). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $3,196,868 in grants to Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry?
- RAYMOND JAMES CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,307,867 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Historical Society of Seattle & King County dba Museum of History & Industry find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 21 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