Massachusetts · Nonprofit
Needham Historical Society Inc
Needham Historical Society Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,775 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($34,875). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
Needham Historical Society Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,904 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,904 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- The William & Lia G Poorvu Family Foundationshared funders
- Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnatiportfolio match
- Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation Incportfolio match
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.
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 11% · 2021 8% · 2023 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
26% of Needham Historical Society Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% 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
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $500 → $9k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 Needham Historical Society Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 6 of 7 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
Needham Historical Society Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 Needham Historical Society Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 95% · 2021 91% · 2022 100% · 2023 94% — 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.
Where its funders are
93% of Needham Historical Society Inc'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 $4k that is directly attributable, 72% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $45k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first.
- The William & Lia G Poorvu Family Foundationshared fundersMA · backs 21 organizations that share your funders
- Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnatiportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- New Hampshire Humanities Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Maportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities & Public Policy Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- New Hampshire Preservation Allianceportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Upper Housatonic Valley National Heportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Bagan Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Crozier Family Charitable Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in Americaportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Greater Hudson Heritage Networkportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding Needham Historical Society Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $16k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$16k
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 Needham Historical Society Inc
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 Needham Historical Society Inc: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Needham Historical Society Inc?
- Needham Historical Society Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,775 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($34,875). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Needham Historical Society Inc have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $48,775 in grants to Needham Historical Society Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Needham Historical Society Inc?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $34,875 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Needham Historical Society Inc 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.
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 7funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing