New York · Nonprofit
New York Historical Society
New York Historical Society (New York) receives grants from 459 organizations whose IRS filings report $123,863,084 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND ($10,136,294). 279 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $43M
- Funders on record
- 459
- Grants received
- $124M
- Net assets
- $218M
What New York Historical Society does
Mission
The founding mission of the new-york historical society ("the new york historical "tnyh") is to collect, preserve, and interpret, for the broadest possible public, material relevant to the history of the united states in general and of new york state and city in particular.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educational programming - the new york historical's offerings span groundbreaking exhibitions, acclaimed educational programs for teachers and students nationwide, and thought-provoking conversations among leading scholars, journalists, and thinkers about the past, present, and future of the american experiment. Education at tnyh extends far beyond the classroom to encompass gallery experiences, onstage programming, and community-based initiatives that engage learners across the city and around the country. Drawing on expert research and rigorous pedagogy, tnyh delivers accurate and accessible interpretations of american history to a growing, multigenerational community. Through a wide array of educational offerings, tnyh deepens public understanding of the nation's past and fosters informed civic participation. All told, tnyh provides hundreds of educational programs that benefit learners of all ages, spanning the general public, k-12 students and teachers, and younger children not yet in school. For more information, see schedule o.
$17,078,072 spentof which $60,000 as grants$3,214,227 earned by the program49% of program spendingCare and conservation of collections - new york's first museum, the new york historical, is a leading cultural institution documenting over 400 years of american history through a peerless collection of art, documents, and artifacts. Tnyh's collection comprises over 80,000 objects. Tnyh's patricia d. Klingenstein library is one of the oldest, most distinguished research libraries in the united states and a vital center of research into the history of new york and the nation. Among its extensive collections are millions of books, newspapers, maps, manuscripts and archival collections, prints, photographs, and architectural collections from the 16th century to the present. These holdings, many of them unique, reveal the complexity of history and inspire engagement, discovery, and original scholarship. For more information, see schedule o.
$13,416,827 spent$47,203 earned by the program39% of program spendingOther programmatic activities - the new york historical has a museum store which sells merchandise primarily related to the society's mission, current exhibitions or collection; offers space rentals to various organizations and individuals for special events; and receives royalties from publishers, web designers and individuals for the use of items in the collection.
$4,046,059 spent$49,831 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $34,540,958.
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 2024 to 2025, from $244M to $280M (+15%).
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: 2017 26% · 2018 3% · 2019 3% · 2020 3% · 2021 8% · 2022 12% · 2023 8% · 2024 2% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of New York Historical Society’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Louise Mirrer
President and CEO
Board chair
Hsin-Mei Agnes Hsu
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 124 funders to 191 funders, grant income rose $5.8M → $20M.
34 of 459 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 York Historical Society’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 459 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 York Historical Society has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 8% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left
32% 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 York Historical Society.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 20% · 2018 11% · 2019 25% · 2020 13% · 2021 15% · 2022 11% · 2023 12% — 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
46% of New York Historical Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
65% of New York Historical Society's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $36M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
New York Historical Society's funding base is broadening — from 124 funders to 191 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding New York Historical Society receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.2M on record — $9.2M federal, $1k state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$4.2M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$3.0M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.9M
- National Endowment for the Arts$125k
- Department of State$23k
- Department of the Interior$10k
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$998
- DEDICATED$200
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 New York Historical 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for New York Historical 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 York Historical Society?
- New York Historical Society (New York) receives grants from 459 organizations whose IRS filings report $123,863,084 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND ($10,136,294). 279 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does New York Historical Society have?
- IRS filings report 459 organizations giving $123,863,084 in grants to New York Historical Society, 279 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of New York Historical Society?
- JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND is the largest funder on record, with $10,136,294 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like New York Historical Society find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 York Historical 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 459 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