Colorado · Nonprofit
PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY
PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Colorado) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $115,620 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($50,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $595k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $116k
- Net assets
- $6.4M
What Paleontological Society does
Mission
The Paleontological Society is an international nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the science of paleontology: invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology, micropaleontology, and paleobotany. The society has six geographic sections and holds both section meetings as well as an annual meeting for the entire membership. Other program expenses include memberships, awards and scholarships for students working in the field.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The society usually holds an annual meeting, which is ordinarily in the fall. The sections hold meetings, which are usually in the spring. At the meetings, members present volunteered papers and poster sessions; the society normally hosts an invited speaker symposium. Field trips are occasionally offered. At the annual meeting, a short course is presented, and the society has its annual dinner, awards ceremony, and business meeting.
$53,441 spent19% of program spendingPublication of the journal of paleontology and paleobiology
$36,691 spent$100,000 earned by the program13% of program spendingSupporting students and others through grants and scholarships
$188,487 spentof which $183,269 as grants68% of program spendingOther meetings devoted to the advancement of the science of paleontology are occassionally held.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $278,619.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.9M to $6.0M (+21%).
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 7% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
22% of PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY’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. 0 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $20k → $67k.
4 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY’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
PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2023 75% — 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
100% of PALEONTOLOGICAL 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 $500 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $115k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30 on record.
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$30
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 PALEONTOLOGICAL 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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
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 PALEONTOLOGICAL 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 PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Colorado) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $115,620 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($50,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $115,620 in grants to PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 5 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