Washington · Nonprofit
Kitsap County Historical Society
Kitsap County Historical Society (Washington) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $262,369 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($188,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $387k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $262k
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Kitsap County Historical Society does
Mission
The mission of the Kitsap County Historical Society DBA Kitsap History Museum is Connecting Our Community With Each Story. The Society owns and operates the Kitsap History Museum in Bremerton WA maintaining a collection of over 100,000 photographs 40,000 artifacts and textiles and extensive archival materials including documents books maps records and oral histories. The museum presents permanent and rotating exhibits on the diverse culture heritage and history of Kitsap County and operates Rural Heritage exhibits at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. Programs include the Eat Your Way Through Kitsap History guided tour series the History Uncorked speaker series and community events. The museum partners with local organizations schools government agencies and businesses to promote historical awareness and cross-community collaboration throughout Kitsap County.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Kitsap History Museum stewards a collection of more than 100,000 photographs 40,000 artifacts and textiles and extensive archival materials including documents books maps records and oral histories. In 2025 in addition to maintaining permanent exhibits such as the Kitsap History Timeline and Main Street a recreated early 1900s commercial block the museum displayed three major temporary exhibitions. Her Work Our Story celebrated the contributions of Kitsap County women who challenged gender norms and shaped local history. Trade of the Northwest Coast explored Indigenous trade practices and the Chinook Jargon a trade language that connected cultures for centuries. 80 Years of Community Connection & Change, developed in collaboration with Kitsap Regional Library featured an immersive timeline of the library systems eight-decade history a vintage card catalog favorite checkouts from each decade and a playable Oregon Trail game. The museum also operated its Rural Heritage exhibits on farming fishing and logging at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds during the annual county fair. Online exhibits including recorded oral histories features on Filipino Americans and Black Trailblazers and…
$168,730 spent67% of program spendingIn 2025 the Kitsap History Museum offered a variety of programs and events designed to engage the community and bring local history to life. Our popular spring and summer series Eat Your Way Through Kitsap History, combined guided outings to historic sites with group meals at local restaurants blending education with community connection. We continued our History Uncorked speaker series which featured presentations on local topics such as the history of our local newspapers libraries state parks theatres search and rescue waste and water systems geology and local mythology - each event included free refreshments and drew diverse audiences. The museum also participated in recurring community events including the First Friday Art Walks Winterfest Krampusfest the Armed Forces Day Parade and Safe Trick-or-Treat. We hosted a special talk on local botanical history and our annual fundraising gala Celebrate Kitsap, capped the year with a celebration of local heritage and support.
$77,900 spent31% of program spendingIn 2025 the Kitsap History Museum strengthened its community impact through ongoing partnerships and outreach efforts. Our monthly Community Case exhibit featured rotating displays co-curated with local organizations such as the Black Student Union Coffee Oasis Enoch City Arts the Kitsap Sun Armed Forces Parade and Tracyton Library highlighting their work and connections to Kitsap County history. We continued to partner closely with the Downtown Bremerton Association by providing shared office space in our building deepening our involvement in downtown initiatives. In collaboration with Kitsap Regional Library we hosted their 80th anniversary exhibit and a special History Uncorked event with journalist Josh Farley and sold limited-edition anniversary mugs in our gift shop. We continued our partnership with Leadership Kitsap on the public history plaque project placing interpretive markers throughout downtown Bremerton each featuring QR codes linking to expanded historical content on our website.
$5,784 spent2% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $252,414.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.5M to $2.2M (+46%).
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 33% · 2018 16% · 2019 32% · 2020 17% · 2021 9% · 2022 29% · 2023 32% · 2024 49% · 2025 43%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of Kitsap County Historical Society’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Lisa Hope
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $201k → $7k.
4 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 Kitsap County Historical Society’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
Kitsap County Historical Society leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 Kitsap County Historical Society.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 94% · 2021 62% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — 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
0% of Kitsap County Historical Society's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 25% 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
81% of Kitsap County Historical Society'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 $50k that is directly attributable, 86% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $213k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Kitsap County Historical Society runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Kitsap County Historical Society
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 Kitsap County Historical Society: 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 Kitsap County Historical Society?
- Kitsap County Historical Society (Washington) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $262,369 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($188,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Kitsap County Historical Society have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $262,369 in grants to Kitsap County Historical Society, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Kitsap County Historical Society?
- SEATTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $188,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Kitsap County Historical Society 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 Kitsap County Historical Society →
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 8 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