California · Nonprofit
SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM
SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $85,113 to it, the largest being THE BRANDENBURG FAMILY FOUNDATION ($35,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $207k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $85k
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What San Jose Fire Museum does
Mission
The purpose of the San Jose Fire Museum is to acquire, restore, catalogue, preserve and display historic fire apparatus, tools and equipment and memoribilia and to educate the public on the history of the san jose fire department and fire safty education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Provide fire safety instruction, restoration and preservation of historic fire apparatus and equipment.
$675,970 spent$207,347 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $675,970.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.0M to $2.8M (+40%).
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: 2022 97% · 2023 89% · 2024 31% · 2025 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $10k → $5k.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 JOSE FIRE MUSEUM’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 JOSE FIRE MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
59% 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 JOSE FIRE MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $113 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.
Against its field
SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
57%
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 JOSE FIRE MUSEUM: 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 JOSE FIRE MUSEUM?
- SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $85,113 to it, the largest being THE BRANDENBURG FAMILY FOUNDATION ($35,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $85,113 in grants to SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM?
- THE BRANDENBURG FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $35,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN JOSE FIRE MUSEUM 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 Jose Fire 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 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