California · Nonprofit
SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC
SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC (California) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,927,690 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($1,292,734). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.6M
- Funders on record
- 50
- Grants received
- $4.9M
- Net assets
- $12M
What San Diego Air & Space Museum Inc does
Mission
Preserve....inspire....educate....celebrate!preserve significant artifacts of air and space history and technology. Inspire excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The museum offers a variety of educational programs and opportunities for adults and children including group tours, classes and summer camps.education is the number one priority of the san diego air & space museum. Through our guided tours, museum classes, outreach programs, competitions and much more, visitors of all ages can be inspired and educated in science, history, technology, art and world culture.the san diego air & space museum offers a variety of group and individual activities that are tailored to meet the needs of specific grade levels.
$2,832,693 spentof which $46,000 as grants$133,103 earned by the program58% of program spendingThe museum preserves and displays exhibits and artifacts of historical aviation and space significance. More than 280,000 people visit the museum each year and over 30,000 hours of support are contributed by volunteers.
$2,033,875 spent$4,018,642 earned by the program42% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,866,568.
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 2021 to 2022, from $8.8M to $10M (+18%).
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% · 2018 6% · 2019 8% · 2020 8% · 2021 30% · 2022 38% · 2023 14% · 2024 5% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
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
James Kidrick
President & CEO
Board chair
Mark Larson
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $277k → $670k.
10 of 50 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 50 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
SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
44% 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 SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 25% · 2019 26% · 2020 22% · 2021 38% · 2022 45% · 2023 42% — 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.
How long its funders stay
41% of SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
67% of SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $774k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$334k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$250k
- National Archives and Records Administration$150k
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$40k
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 SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% 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 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- San Diego Air & Space Museum Foundation · exempt
- San Diego Air & Space Technology Center · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC: 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 SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC?
- SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC (California) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,927,690 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($1,292,734). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 50 organizations giving $4,927,690 in grants to SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,292,734 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 San Diego Air & Space Museum →
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 50 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