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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.

Revenue FY2024
$365k
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$49k
Net assets
$3.4M
2/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 5%
01What it does

What Needham Historical Society Inc does

Mission

The Needham Historical Society (d/b/a Needham History Center & Museum) is a local non-profit whose mission is to engage and educate the community about the history of the town and its people, and to preserve the treasures of Needham's past. We connect people with history to provide a vital link to the past and context for understanding current issues.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. To understand and value the unique history of the town of needham and to enhance the present and future culture, knowledge and civic pride of its citizens via a museum, gift shop, craft/theme workshops and guided tours.

    $149,168 spent$202,610 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $149,168.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($124k) Expenses 100 ($162k) Net assets 100 ($3.2M)2018 Revenue 181 ($224k) Expenses 106 ($172k) Net assets 96 ($3.1M)2019 Revenue 106 ($132k) Expenses 91 ($148k) Net assets 100 ($3.2M)2020 Revenue 101 ($125k) Expenses 80 ($130k) Net assets 102 ($3.3M)2021 Revenue 129 ($160k) Expenses 88 ($142k) Net assets 107 ($3.4M)2022 Revenue 163 ($203k) Expenses 91 ($147k) Net assets 100 ($3.2M)2023 Revenue 148 ($184k) Expenses 120 ($195k) Net assets 102 ($3.3M)2024 Revenue 294 ($365k) Expenses 97 ($157k) Net assets 106 ($3.4M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (294)Expenses (97)Net assets (106)Peer revenue range

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 $3.4M to $3.2M (−6%).

$3.2M
$3.1M
$3.2M
$3.3M
$3.4M
$3.2M
$3.3M
$3.4M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

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).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$38k
’17
$53k
’18
−$16k
’19
−$4k
’20
$18k
’21
$55k
’22
−$11k
’23
$208k
’24
17
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2624252525272423
Joined·+3+3+0+5+5+1+0
No longer listed·5205341
03Who funds it

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.

72%
largest funder
98%
top three
~2
effective funders

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.

NY
MA
NC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’20
’21
’23
Massachusetts out of state home

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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Needham Historical Society Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin57% · top quartile
Months of reserve17.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

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.

State$16k
Top programs
  • (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

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

95% of spending goes to programs.

Program 95%Management 2%Fundraising 3%

Governance

26
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

MA

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.

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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 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.

Play a game about who funds Needham Historical Society →

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 7 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