Michigan · Nonprofit
MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,713,697 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MUSKEGON COUNTY ($1,174,121). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $632k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What Mason County Historical Society does
Mission
To foster a deeper understanding of and appreciation for Mason County history.To collect, preserve, and present for viewing historically important artifacts, archives, and buildings of the inhabitants of Mason County.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Mason County Historical Society provided visitors the opportunity to experience the history of mason county through tours, special events, and school field trips.
$711,341 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $711,341.
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 2021 to 2022, from $6.3M to $7.1M (+11%).
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 5% · 2018 2% · 2019 1% · 2020 16% · 2021 15% · 2022 0% · 2023 4% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Rebecca Berringer
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income fell $487k → $167k.
5 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 76% 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 MASON 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
MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
84% 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 MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 100% · 2019 65% · 2020 46% · 2021 59% · 2022 60% · 2023 61% — diversifying over time.
“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
43% of MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 82% 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
76% of MASON 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 $407k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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
MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY's revenue fell 44% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MASON 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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 MASON 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 MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,713,697 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MUSKEGON COUNTY ($1,174,121). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $1,713,697 in grants to MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MUSKEGON COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $1,174,121 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Mason 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 11 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