Washington · Nonprofit
HISTORY INK
HISTORY INK (Washington) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $720,237 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($274,750). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $720k
- Net assets
- $772k
What History Ink does
Mission
The organization's primary purpose is to create and maintain the online encyclopedia of washington state history, available to the public for free via www.historylink.org.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Historylink.org (articles, "this week," listen feature, any features of the site itself)
$303,643 spent44% of program spendingBook (production and promotion of where the city meets the sound: the story of seattle's waterfront)
$99,841 spent$1,870 earned by the program15% of program spendingPodcast (field notes production)
$35,204 spent5% of program spendingTeach historylink, other book projects - reaching hundreds through sales and talksoutreach - reaching hundreds through conferences, travel and programmingcommunications - reaching thousands through social media posts and two newsletters
$244,903 spent36% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $683,591.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2021 to 2022, from $378k to $674k (+78%).
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: 2019 36% · 2020 47% · 2021 64% · 2022 25% · 2023 41% · 2024 17% · 2025 35%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of HISTORY INK’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 2 of the last 7 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
Jennifer Ott
Executive director
Board chair
Michael Sullivan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $11k → $44k.
8 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 HISTORY INK’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
HISTORY INK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
70% 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 HISTORY INK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 31% · 2019 62% · 2020 77% · 2021 64% · 2022 46% · 2023 24% — 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
33% of HISTORY INK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
69% of HISTORY INK'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 $223k that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $498k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
HISTORY INK holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding HISTORY INK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $23k on record.
- Department of the Interior$18k
- Department of Defense$5k
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 HISTORY INK
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
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HISTORY INK: 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 HISTORY INK?
- HISTORY INK (Washington) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $720,237 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($274,750). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HISTORY INK have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $720,237 in grants to HISTORY INK, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HISTORY INK?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $274,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HISTORY INK 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.
Play a game about who funds History Ink →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), 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