Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
LANCASTERHISTORYORG
LANCASTERHISTORYORG (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,247,488 to it, the largest being HIGH FOUNDATION ($950,400). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.7M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $5.2M
- Net assets
- $24M
What Lancasterhistoryorg does
Mission
To educate the public about the heritage and history of the people, places, and events that shaped our region, the commonwealth of pennsylvania and the united states of america.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organization carries on various programs and events that support their mission to educate the public about the heritage and history of the people, places, and events that shaped our region, the commonwealth of pennsylvania, and the united states of america.outreach to approximately 2,400 members and general public through our journal and newsletter and 125,000 through the world wide web.acquisitions-library, archival, and museum items for public display and historical research served an estimated 14,000 adults, college, and secondary students.special events-living history civil war and wwii encampments, lectures, films, trips, colloquia and symposia. Brought history events to about 8,800 people.responsible for the future development of a museum and interpretive center of the thaddeus stevens and lydia hamilton smith historic site located in lancaster city.neh fellowship
$1,718,383 spent$217,100 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,718,383.
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 2023 to 2024, from $21M to $29M (+42%).
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 25% · 2018 25% · 2019 25% · 2020 16% · 2021 19% · 2022 12% · 2023 3% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of LANCASTERHISTORYORG’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Thomas Ryan Phd
President and CEO
Board chair
J Richard Gray
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $478k → $696k.
11 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 LANCASTERHISTORYORG’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
LANCASTERHISTORYORG has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 37% · 2019 54% · 2020 44% · 2021 38% · 2022 72% · 2023 38% — 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
52% of LANCASTERHISTORYORG's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
88% of LANCASTERHISTORYORG's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $995k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
LANCASTERHISTORYORG runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding LANCASTERHISTORYORG receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$774k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$250k
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 LANCASTERHISTORYORG
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
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
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LANCASTERHISTORYORG: 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 LANCASTERHISTORYORG?
- LANCASTERHISTORYORG (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,247,488 to it, the largest being HIGH FOUNDATION ($950,400). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LANCASTERHISTORYORG have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $5,247,488 in grants to LANCASTERHISTORYORG, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LANCASTERHISTORYORG?
- HIGH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $950,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LANCASTERHISTORYORG 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 Lancasterhistoryorg →
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 46 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