Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
National Liberty Museum
National Liberty Museum (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,770,727 to it, the largest being BOROWSKY FAMILY FOUNDATION ($393,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $20M
What National Liberty Museum does
Mission
National Liberty Museum ("nlmthe "organization") is a nonprofit organization, located in the heart of historic philadelphia, whose mission is to illuminate the strength and fragility of liberty by presenting the stories of people whose positive (see schedule o)
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibitions and Public Interpretation - The National Liberty Museum (NLM) advances its mission through a dynamic program of rotating exhibitions that examine the evolving meaning of liberty in contemporary society. Recent exhibitions have explored themes such as freedom of expression, civic participation, and the role of individuals and communities in shaping a more just society, positioning the Museum as a forum for timely public dialogue. NLM develops exhibitions through loans, commissions, open calls, and partnerships with community organizations and subject-matter experts, ensuring a diversity of perspectives and lived experiences. Each exhibition is designed as an entry point for civic engagement, connecting historical ideas of liberty to present-day issues. Exhibitions are supported by a robust schedule of public programs - including talks, workshops, panel discussions, and facilitated conversations - that deepen visitor engagement and encourage critical thinking, dialogue, and participation.
$460,874 spent$75,175 earned by the program19% of program spendingYouth Civic and Liberty Education (YHOP/LEAP) - During the year, the National Liberty Museum (NLM) evolved its longstanding Young Heroes Outreach Program (YHOP) from a year-long civics initiative into a more focused, semester-based model: Liberty and Engagement Across Perspectives (LEAP). This shift reflects NLM's broader transition from traditional civics education to a "liberty education" framework that emphasizes the exploration of rights, responsibilities, and perspectives in a pluralistic society. LEAP is designed as a structured semester-long experience for students in grades 4-8, combining classroom learning with facilitated dialogue and project-based engagement. Grounded in themes drawn from NLM's exhibitions, the program encourages students to examine complex issues through multiple viewpoints, practice respectful discourse, and understand the role of individual and collective action in shaping communities. Students apply critical thinking skills to real-world challenges and participate in guided projects that promote problem-solving, collaboration, and ethical decision-making. The program prioritizes engagement across perspectives, helping students build the skills…
$1,242,260 spent52% of program spendingPublic Programs and Speaker Series - In addition to exhibition-based programming, NLM presents public programs and a speaker series that convene thought leaders, scholars, public officials, and community members. These programs expand on exhibition themes and create space for dialogue around pressing social issues. Through these offerings, NLM serves as a civic gathering place where diverse audiences engage in informed discussion, exchange ideas, and explore the responsibilities and opportunities of living in a free society.
$574,825 spent24% of program spendingCommunity awards
$106,108 spent4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,384,067.
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 $22M to $29M (+31%).
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: 2020 5% · 2021 14% · 2022 23% · 2023 9% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
52% of National Liberty 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.
Chief executive
Alaine K Arnott Phd
CEO & president
Board chair
Dennis Egen
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 18 funders to 16 funders, grant income fell $302k → $211k.
11 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 National Liberty Museum’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
National Liberty Museum has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
38% 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 National Liberty Museum.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 25% · 2019 23% · 2020 14% · 2021 14% · 2022 26% · 2023 44% — 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
36% of National Liberty Museum's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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 National Liberty Museum's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $985k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
National Liberty Museum's revenue fell 30% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding National Liberty Museum receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $556k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$435k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$100k
- National Endowment for the Arts$21k
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 National Liberty 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
48% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
50%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for National Liberty 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 National Liberty Museum?
- National Liberty Museum (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,770,727 to it, the largest being BOROWSKY FAMILY FOUNDATION ($393,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does National Liberty Museum have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $2,770,727 in grants to National Liberty Museum, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of National Liberty Museum?
- BOROWSKY FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $393,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like National Liberty Museum find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 National Liberty Museum →
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 66 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