California · Nonprofit
SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,119,927 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($6,891,500). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $8.1M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History does
Mission
Connecting people with nature and science to inspire stewardship of the natural world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Our museum serves over 30,000 children and adults per year through a variety of programs designed to connect with the region's residents and visitors alike, such as: family programs including field trips, lectures, and festival; year-round series of lectures and field-based workshops with natural history experts; on-site docent-led school tours; and, field-based school programs. We also offer a variety of exhibits, such as permanent exhibits on the region's animals & habitats, geology, and cultural heritage and temporary exhibits which rotate two-three times each year. In addition, the museum maintains a collection of over 16,000 natural history specimens and cultural artifacts for study.
$1,058,208 spentof which $8,038 as grants$138,772 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,058,208.
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 2024 to 2025, from $2.5M to $19M (+677%).
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 0% · 2018 1% · 2019 0% · 2020 10% · 2021 2% · 2022 6% · 2023 7% · 2024 6% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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 4 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $586k → $613k.
7 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY’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
SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 85% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 95% · 2019 60% · 2020 42% · 2021 98% · 2022 37% · 2023 82% — 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
57% of SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
93% of SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY'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 $577k that is directly attributable, 93% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.5M 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
SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $45k on record.
- Department of the Interior$45k
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 SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
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
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: 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 SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY?
- SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,119,927 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($6,891,500). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $8,119,927 in grants to SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $6,891,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 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 Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History →
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 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