Wyoming · Nonprofit
NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST
NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST (Wyoming) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $50,250 to it, the largest being THE DAYTON FOUNDATION ($25,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $77k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $50k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Nelson Museum of the West does
Mission
The mission of the Nelson Museum of the West is to build an important collection of Military, Cowboy and Native American artifacts, Western Art and Natural History material and to share this collection with the public in a way to educate them as to the history of the Old West.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Museum had 2,479 visitors in 2025 of which 1,307 were individuals from schools or civic organizations who visited the Museum at no cost to them. The Museum was open 146 days from May through October 2025. It was opened for three days in November and one day in December for special events.
$42,963 spent$8,804 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $42,963.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $1.6M to $1.7M (+8%).
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.
104% of NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Robert Nelson
President and Chief Executive Officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $25k → $250.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
50% 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 NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST's grant income comes from Wyoming funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST
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 Wyoming
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
41%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST: 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 NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST?
- NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST (Wyoming) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $50,250 to it, the largest being THE DAYTON FOUNDATION ($25,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $50,250 in grants to NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST.
- Who is the largest funder of NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST?
- THE DAYTON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NELSON MUSEUM OF THE WEST find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wyoming. 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 Nelson Museum of the West →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 3 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