Washington · Nonprofit
MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION
MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION (Washington) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $152,584,000 to it, the largest being THE ALDARRA FOUNDATION ($132,883,000). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $76M
- Funders on record
- 89
- Grants received
- $153M
- Net assets
- $411M
What Museum of Flight Foundation does
Mission
The primary exempt purposes of the museum of flight are to preserve aviation and space history, and to provide education to the public about subjects related to flight.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The museum of flight in seattle, wa, one of the world's largest private nonprofit air and space museums, hosted more than 465,000 visitors in 2024 while being open for 363 days.the museum had 205 full-time employees in 2024, and 509 active volunteers who contributed 71,846 hours through tours, guest lectures and guest interactions. In striving for its vision to "inspire all through the limitless possibility of flight..." the museum served over 46,000 students with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (stem) disciplines. The museum also provided over $343,000 in financial aid and scholarships. The museum is a smithsonian affiliate and is also accredited by the american alliance of museums. In 2023, the museum updated its mission to focus on and emphasize the audiences it is proud to serve: the museum of flight is a community where we unleash the innovation, passion, and human story of flight to unlock joy and the amazing potential in everyone. The museum of flight exists to: collect, preserve, and participate in the dynamic and diverse stories of aerospace capture the awe of the past, present, and future of aviation and space for all to experience provide…
$23,688,610 spentof which $238,553 as grants$12,386,505 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $23,688,610.
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 $372M to $423M (+14%).
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 2% · 2019 1% · 2020 15% · 2021 32% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
79% of MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Matthew Hayes
President & CEO
Board chair
Ron Limes
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 28 funders to 46 funders, grant income rose $2.5M → $43M.
18 of 89 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 89 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
MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 87% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 49% · 2019 29% · 2020 51% · 2021 84% · 2022 91% · 2023 96% — 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
63% of MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
98% of MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $247k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$247k
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 MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
29%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- Museum of Flight Investment Fund LLC · disregarded
- King County Museum of Flight Authority · exempt
- Space Shuttle Exhibition Gallery · exempt
- Windward Aviation Inc · corp_trust
- Museum of Flight Education Services LLC · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION: 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 MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION?
- MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION (Washington) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $152,584,000 to it, the largest being THE ALDARRA FOUNDATION ($132,883,000). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 89 organizations giving $152,584,000 in grants to MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION, 63 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION?
- THE ALDARRA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $132,883,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MUSEUM OF FLIGHT FOUNDATION 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 89 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