California · Nonprofit
Maritime Museum Association of San Diego
Maritime Museum Association of San Diego (California) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,381,468 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($712,821). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.8M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Maritime Museum Association of San Diego does
Mission
The Maritime Museum of San Diego restores, maintains and operates historic vessels.The museum has one of the world's finest collections of historic ships, including the world's oldest active ship Star of India.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024 the Maritime Museum welcomed approximately 99,554 visitors through the gate, and served approximately 10,367 school children and 89,187 adults and families. Museum activities take place aboard seven historic vessels (the flagship is the 1863 bark Star of India, the world's oldest active sailing ship). Maritime history is interpreted through: 1)permanent and temporary exhibits; 2)public programs (e.g.,Family Days with nautical activities for adults and children, half-day tall ship sailings, sea chantey concerts, members' nights, and travel programs); 3)publications (peer-reviewed journal of maritime history, quarterly newsletter); and 4)education programs (science of seafaring workshops, environmental education on the bay, day and overnight living history programs, sail training for at risk youth, docent-led tours).
$3,018,252 spent$5,131,735 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,018,252.
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 2020 to 2021, from $17M to $19M (+12%).
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 10% · 2018 10% · 2019 10% · 2020 44% · 2021 38% · 2022 27% · 2023 13% · 2024 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of Maritime Museum Association of San Diego’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. 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
Raymond Ashley
President/CEO
Board chair
Kenneth Stipanov
Chairman of the Board
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 8 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $61k → $91k.
6 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego’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
Maritime Museum Association of San Diego leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% 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
73% 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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 90% · 2019 47% · 2020 45% · 2021 40% · 2022 49% · 2023 50% — broadly stable.
“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
31% of Maritime Museum Association of San Diego's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
72% of Maritime Museum Association of San Diego'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 $387k that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $994k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Maritime Museum Association of San Diego runs a healthier operating margin than half 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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $285k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$285k
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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
55% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego: 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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego?
- Maritime Museum Association of San Diego (California) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,381,468 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($712,821). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Maritime Museum Association of San Diego have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,381,468 in grants to Maritime Museum Association of San Diego, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Maritime Museum Association of San Diego?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $712,821 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Maritime Museum Association of San Diego find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Maritime Museum Association of San Diego →
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 24 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