Massachusetts · Nonprofit
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 77 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,005,988 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,917,630). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 77
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $164M
What Massachusetts Historical Society does
Mission
To promote understanding of the history of massachusetts and the nation by collecting and communicating materials and resources that foster historical knowledge.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
As the nation's first historical society, the Massachusetts Historical Society (mhs) strives to enhance the understanding of our nation's past and its connection to the present, demonstrating that history is not just a series of events that happened to individuals long ago but is integral to the fabric of our daily lives. Its collections are accessible to anyone with an interest in american history. Beyond research, the mhs offers many ways for the public to enjoy its collections including engaging programs, thought-provoking exhibitions, publications, seminars, and teacher workshops.please see sch. O for additional program highlights & descriptions.
$6,644,864 spentof which $208,938 as grants$40,405 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,644,864.
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 $105M to $153M (+45%).
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 22% · 2018 20% · 2019 4% · 2020 3% · 2021 8% · 2022 3% · 2023 10% · 2024 5% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 31 funders, grant income fell $1.0M → $835k.
10 of 77 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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: $100 from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Ma). These are real filings, and they are not money MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY raised.
From the IRS filings of MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 77 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
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
59% 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 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 41% · 2019 61% · 2020 23% · 2021 23% · 2022 27% · 2023 23% — 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
44% of MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
57% of MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $17.9M on record — $17.1M federal, $835k state.
- Department of the Interior$10.5M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$5.3M
- National Archives and Records Administration$1.3M
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$818k
- (HH) CONSULTANT SVCS (TO DEPTS)$17k
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 MASSACHUSETTS 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
52% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
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 MASSACHUSETTS 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 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 77 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,005,988 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,917,630). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 77 organizations giving $10,005,988 in grants to MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,917,630 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts 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 77 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing