California · Nonprofit
San Francisco Historical Society
San Francisco Historical Society (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $221,231 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($89,180). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $883k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $221k
- Net assets
- $822k
What San Francisco Historical Society does
Mission
To provide services to the public that enable the understanding and appreciation of the history of San Francisco.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Conducting ten monthly public and member programs on San Francisco history and culture. Maintaining over 50 historic walks at historic sites and neighborhoods, including the Barbary Coast Trail, throughout the year. Includes the publication of the semi-annual academic journal, the Argonaut, and the quarterly magazine about San Francisco history, Panorama.
$428,634 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $428,634.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2022 to 2023, from $177k to $1.1M (+516%).
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: 2023 14% · 2024 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
51% of San Francisco Historical Society’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (73% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 7 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.
Board chair
Thomas Owens
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $7k → $42k.
6 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 Francisco Historical 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
San Francisco Historical Society leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 Francisco Historical Society.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 72% · 2020 94% · 2021 44% · 2022 31% · 2023 46% — 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
20% of San Francisco Historical Society's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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 Francisco 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 $73k that is directly attributable, 50% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $148k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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 Francisco Historical Society has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,356 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,356 unclassified nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like San Francisco 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
38% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for San Francisco 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 San Francisco Historical Society?
- San Francisco Historical Society (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $221,231 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($89,180). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does San Francisco Historical Society have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $221,231 in grants to San Francisco Historical Society, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of San Francisco Historical Society?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $89,180 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like San Francisco Historical Society 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 Francisco 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 2018–2024), and the filings of 17 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