Massachusetts · Nonprofit
NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 70 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,333,362 to it, the largest being FIDELITY NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION ($5,500,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 70
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $71M
What New England Historic Genealogical Society does
Mission
New England Historic Genealogical Society's mission is to advance the study of family history in america and beyond. We educate, inspire, and connect people through our scholarship, collections, and expertise. We conduct business under the trade name american ancestors. American ancestors is a national nonprofit center for family history, heritage & culture based in boston, massachusetts, and has been setting the gold standard for genealogical research since its founding in 1845. Today, american ancestors serves 400,000 members and subscribers through americanancestors.org, one of the world's largest online collections of family history resources. In 2025, american ancestors launched the family heritage experience, an interactive, state-of-the-art exhibition that introduces visitors to the joy of family history research, located at 97 newbury street in boston. American ancestors is also home to the wyner family jewish heritage center, which preserves new england's jewish history, and 10 million names, a project dedicated to finding the names of the enslaved men, women, and children in pre- and post-colonial america before emancipation. Their award winning website is…
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Member services: american ancestors is a member-based organization with more than 400,000 individual and corporate memberships and 2.5 million online visits. Membership has numerous benefits including access to over 1.6 billion searchable names on americanancestors.org; quarterly delivery of the magazine american ancestors and the flagship journal of american genealogy, the register; discounts on research-for-hire and consultation; discounts on books published by american ancestors; free admission to the brim-deforest library and special collections, newsletters and its ask-a-genealogist service; discounts on hotels through historichotels.org and historichotelsworldwide.com; and access to american ancestrees, an online family tree program.
$326,345 spent$2,132,314 earned by the program3% of program spendingTours, seminars & events: american ancestors hosts online seminars, guided tours, conferences and events to further knowledge of family history. Guided research tours to locations in the united states, canada, and europe, as well as research programs at the brim-deforest library in boston. Each program includes intensive days devoted to research, one-on-one consultations, presentations by american ancestors genealogists and local experts, and social activities. We provide exclusive, in-depth learning opportunities online and in person, including more than 250 annual lectures, seminars, intensive research programs, cultural programs, american inspiration book talks, and special events designed to benefit family history researchers of all levels and heritage and cultural enthusiasts.
$1,990,676 spent$1,149,334 earned by the program21% of program spendingResearch library: the brim-deforest library has been named by usa today as a top 10 world destination for family history. The public, members and visitors may visit their eight-story library and archive where it offers the largest collection of original family history research materials in the country. The collection, which continues to grow through acquisition and preservation activities, dates from the fourteenth century to the present and spans north america, europe, and beyond. It includes more than 28 million diaries, letters, photographs, and other manuscripts, and more than 250,000 books and microforms.
$2,681,026 spent$1,582,493 earned by the program28% of program spendingWebsite: american ancestorsoffers family history researchers the most-used genealogical society website in the world. Americanancestors.org provides access to more than 1.6 billion records spanning over 25 countries covering early american, new england, new york, irish, english, italian, scottish, atlantic and french canadian, african american, native american, chinese, jewish genealogy, and more, including one of the most extensive online collections of early american genealogical records, the largest searchable collection of published genealogical research journals and magazines, and the largest collection of u.s catholic records online. In 2018, family tree magazine noted americanancestors.org as a best genealogy records website, and as one of the best genealogy websites in the world.
$2,035,595 spent22% of program spendingPublications: american ancestors is the nation's leading publisher of family history books and periodicals since 1847. Through its newbury street press and other publication arms, they produce the new england historical and genealogical register, its flagship journal of american genealogy and the oldest in the field, focusing on authoritative compiled genealogies, and american ancestors magazine, published quarterly.
$2,158,750 spent$28,386 earned by the program23% of program spendingRetail store: american ancestors sells original and third party books, charts, and gifts which are available for purchase on line through shop.americanancestors.org and in store at its 97 newbury street headquarters.
$226,414 spent2% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,418,806.
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.
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 $66M to $85M (+28%).
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 12% · 2024 1% · 2025 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 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
Ryan Woods
President and CEO
Board chair
David M Trebing
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $554k → $2.2M.
17 of 70 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 70 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
NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
90% 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 NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 66% · 2018 47% · 2019 58% · 2020 45% · 2021 72% · 2022 68% · 2023 43% — 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.
How long its funders stay
38% of NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
57% of NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY'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 $7.9M that is directly attributable, 80% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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.
Organizations like NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
58% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY: 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 NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY?
- NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 70 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,333,362 to it, the largest being FIDELITY NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION ($5,500,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 70 organizations giving $18,333,362 in grants to NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, 42 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY?
- FIDELITY NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY 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 New England Historic Genealogical Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 70 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