Washington · Nonprofit
POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY
POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $117,408 to it, the largest being GRAYS HARBOR COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($82,479). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $239k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $117k
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Polson Park and Museum Historical Society does
Mission
The mission of the Polson Museum is to preserve, promote and present the material, written and photographic history of Grays Harbor County, Washington. The main museum, library, archives and collections storage areas are located within the 26-room, 1924 mansion of timber-heir Arnold Polson. The Polson's Railroad Camp exhibit space, adjacent Hubble House, and Laubach Shop further the museum's mission by providing education, exhibition, collection storage and restoration spaces. In 2023, the Polson Museum acquired the historic 80-acre Camp Klahanee to be added to our portfolio of properties that enhance and support the museum's core mission.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Regular, ongoing work to maintain, update and create new permanent and temporary exhibits pertaining to the history of Grays Harbor County, Washington. Such work includes the active maintenance, acquisition and cataloging of historical collections for exhibition, educational and research purposes. Work also includes the general administration and operation of the museum. Following the post-COVID-19 pandemic closure requirements of 2020 and into 2021 along with our own closure during the first three months of 2022, the Polson continued to install new exhibits in 2023 including The Spectacular Vanishes When Horses Left the Harbor, 1900 to 1930, Maritime Grays Harbor, and Made in Grays Harbor.
$81,633 spentof which $11,900 as grants$13,341 earned by the program50% of program spendingWork to restore "Hubble House" a 1915 Japanesque Craftsman bungalow at 1607 Riverside Ave., Hoquiam, WA continued during 2023. When completed, the building will serve as collections storage for the museum's paper-based collections, be available as a public meeting space in the common areas, and be a dedicated woodworking shop in the garage.
$3,307 spent2% of program spendingPhotographic scanning and archiving. This multi-year effort continued with more catch up to process new collections that have come into the museum's permanent collection. Images were scanned, identified and sleeved for proper storage as well as information added to our collections database.
$7,800 spent5% of program spendingAcquisition of Camp Klahanee. In October, 2023, the Polson completed a nearly two-year effort to acquire the 80-acre former Girl Scout camp located on Larson Bros. Rd. north of Hoquiam. The site was originally owned and logged by the Polson Logging Co., a historical tie to our museum's namesake. The camp's 1961 lodge and related camp buildings will all support museum programming with space for exhibits, educational events and public gatherings. A recreational easement has been established for continued Girl Scout use of the camp as well as a conservation easement held by the non-profit land conservancy Forterra on 63 acres of what we have named the Polson Museum Heritage Forest.
$70,979 spent43% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $163,719.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $960k to $1.6M (+66%).
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 20% · 2021 17% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. 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 5 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
John Larson
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income fell $44k → $17k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 4 of 5 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
POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 52% · 2022 100% · 2023 69% — 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
71% of POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL 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 $34k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $83k 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.
Organizations like POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
48% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM 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 POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $117,408 to it, the largest being GRAYS HARBOR COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($82,479). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $117,408 in grants to POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- GRAYS HARBOR COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $82,479 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLSON PARK AND MUSEUM HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Polson Park and Museum 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 2020–2024), 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