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Indiana · Nonprofit

INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC

INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC (Indiana) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,400,911 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($7,544,217). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.2M
Funders on record
56
Grants received
$10M
Net assets
$11M
35/56 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 92%
01What it does

What Indiana State Museum Foundation Inc does

Mission

The foundation was established to promote and assist the indiana state musuem and historic sites with the objective of collecting, preserving and interpreting indiana history for the benefit of the public.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The foundation provides financial support for the indiana state museum and historic sites. The support promotes exhibitions and educational programs highlighting cultural history, natural history, art, and science.

    $3,189,672 spentof which $3,189,672 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,189,672.

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 ($3.0M) Expenses 100 ($4.1M) Net assets 100 ($9.9M)2018 Revenue 87 ($2.6M) Expenses 98 ($4.1M) Net assets 85 ($8.4M)2019 Revenue 103 ($3.1M) Expenses 81 ($3.3M) Net assets 84 ($8.3M)2020 Revenue 110 ($3.3M) Expenses 34 ($1.4M) Net assets 103 ($10M)2021 Revenue 97 ($2.9M) Expenses 53 ($2.2M) Net assets 121 ($12M)2022 Revenue 118 ($3.6M) Expenses 83 ($3.4M) Net assets 110 ($11M)2023 Revenue 266 ($8.0M) Expenses 95 ($3.9M) Net assets 154 ($15M)2024 Revenue 86 ($2.6M) Expenses 186 ($7.7M) Net assets 108 ($11M)2025 Revenue 106 ($3.2M) Expenses 78 ($3.2M) Net assets 110 ($11M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (106)Expenses (78)Net assets (110)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 2023 to 2024, from $15M to $11M (−30%).

$9.9M
$8.5M
$8.4M
$10M
$12M
$11M
$15M
$11M
$11M
'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: 2021 46% · 2022 28% · 2023 54% · 2024 40% · 2025 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

78% of INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1.1M
’17
−$1.4M
’18
−$232k
’19
$1.9M
’20
$731k
’21
$116k
’22
$4.1M
’23
−$5.1M
’24
−$42k
’25
9.5
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

Cathryn C Ferree

CEO/president

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed6555518192219
Joined·+0+0+0+0+13+5+4+0
No longer listed·10000413
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $270k → $327k.

12 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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

INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

73%
largest funder
83%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 18% · 2019 27% · 2020 63% · 2021 29% · 2022 90% · 2023 39% — growing more concentrated.

“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

37% of INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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

98% of INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Indiana funders.

MN
WI
NY
IN
OH
PA
DC
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $545k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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

INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−1% · below the median
Months of reserve9.5mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.

Federal$1.0M
grants $1.0Mcontracts $0
18
21
25
Top agencies
  • Department of the Interior$500k
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$327k
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$190k
  • National Endowment for the Arts$25k

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 INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION 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 Indiana

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

98% of spending goes to programs.

Program 98%Management 1%Fundraising 0%

Governance

18
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

73%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IN

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION 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 INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC?
INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC (Indiana) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,400,911 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($7,544,217). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $10,400,911 in grants to INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC?
LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $7,544,217 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like INDIANA STATE MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 56 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