Washington · Nonprofit
LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM
LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM (Washington) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $877,189 to it, the largest being B CORRY AND DONNA J MCFARLAND FOUNDATION ($300,050). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.3M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $877k
- Net assets
- $43M
What Lemay-Americas Car Museum does
Mission
The LeMay America's Car Museum preserves and interprets the history and technology of the automobile and its influence on American culture. The museum is dedicated to securing and interpreting the valuable LeMay Collection and to acquiring, preserving and interpreting additional artifacts that explore broad themes of American mobility and lifestyle in an instructive and entertaining manner.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Guest Services: The Museum creates an active, involved and social environment for car enthusiasts. It provides engaging and entertaining exhibitions for a broad spectrum of the community. To enhance the visitor experience, the Museum offers racing simulators and slot car driving. Attendance in 2024 = 90,000.
$335,519 spent$1,672,543 earned by the program9% of program spendingCollection and Exhibitions: The Museum is dedicated to secure and interpret the extensive LeMay car collection as well as to acquire, preserve and interpret additional mobility collections. There are approximately 260 cars in the collection. The Museum breaks the traditional design of static displays of cars by rotating exhibitions from its vast collection and showcasing auto manufacturers' achievements and future directions in design, technology and product development. The Museum opened 2 exhibits in 2024.
$508,550 spent$15,820 earned by the program13% of program spendingEducation: An interactive center for all "students" of automotive history, restoration and preservation. During 2024, the Museum continued to increase its number of education activities, such as hosting 3,000 third graders to the Museum. It has established itself as a valuable resource for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and homeschooling communities and positioned itself as a central hub for STEM/STEAM learning.
$273,080 spentof which $300 as grants$261,153 earned by the program7% of program spendingThe remaining programs primarily include the following: Event Sales - Patrons unable to attend the Museum during normal operating hours are offered the opportunity to view the collection during an after-hours event or group tour; and Retail Store - Selling various types of merchandise that relate to the Museum's exhibitions and collection. In 2025, it is planned to launch an online store.
$2,742,272 spent$338,804 earned by the program71% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,859,421.
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 $54M to $53M (−3%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 42% · 2021 25% · 2022 35% · 2023 9% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
36% of LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM’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. 6 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.
Board chair
Michael Towers
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $253k → $22k.
4 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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: $2.8M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Americas Automotive Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM raised.
From the IRS filings of LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM’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
LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
48% 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 LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 53% · 2019 45% · 2020 70% · 2021 71% · 2022 69% · 2023 76% — 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
44% of LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
96% of LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $383k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $877k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- LeMay Dome Parking Association · exempt
- Harold E Lemay Museum · exempt
- RPM Foundation · exempt
- Americas Automotive Trust · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM: 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 LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM?
- LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM (Washington) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $877,189 to it, the largest being B CORRY AND DONNA J MCFARLAND FOUNDATION ($300,050). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $877,189 in grants to LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM?
- B CORRY AND DONNA J MCFARLAND FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $300,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEMAY-AMERICAS CAR MUSEUM 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 15 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