Arizona · Nonprofit
SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC
SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC (Arizona) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,864,172 to it, the largest being SCOTTSDALE ARTS ($500,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $2.9M
- Net assets
- $5.6M
What Scottsdale Museum of the West Inc does
Mission
Increase and diffuse knowledge; encourage the appreciation of art and history of the north american west; maintain a museum or museums to exhibit, collect and preserve objects of artistic and historic interest; and provide facilities for research and publication.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Western spirit: scottsdales museum of the west tells the story of the north american west through its visual culture. As we celebrated our 10th anniversary in january 2025, it was also a year of growth and the beginning of a new era which included successful completion of the city of scottsdales museum of the west 12,000 square foot expansion and refurbishment of the museums theater. We welcomed actor/filmmaker kevin costner for our first western spirit award fundraiser and kicked off the completion of the new space with a saloon night fundraiser. We welcomed almost 50,000 guests to the museum and proudly opened 3 new exhibits: 10th anniversary timeline, mac schweitzer: a southwest maverick rediscovered, the west in miniature. Western spirit expanded community accessibility in 2025 by welcoming more than 2500 individuals from underserved communities through intitiatives such as coffee with seniors, act one arizonas culture pass program, and strategic parnterships that reduced financial and transportation barriers to museum participation. Other highlights included delivery of 110 public programs and 40 school tours with nearly 4000 and 3000 attendees, respectively.
$5,843,018 spent$982,231 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,843,018.
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 2020 to 2021, from $2.8M to $7.7M (+176%).
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 46% · 2018 18% · 2019 20% · 2020 46% · 2021 14% · 2022 19% · 2023 29% · 2024 15% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Todd Bankofier
CEO
Board chair
David Sherf
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $238k → $307k.
7 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
77% 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 SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 78% · 2019 42% · 2020 61% · 2021 53% · 2022 58% · 2023 36% — 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
36% of SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
54% of SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC'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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 73% of it comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M 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
SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC has grown faster than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST 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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST 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 SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC?
- SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC (Arizona) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,864,172 to it, the largest being SCOTTSDALE ARTS ($500,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $2,864,172 in grants to SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC?
- SCOTTSDALE ARTS is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Scottsdale Museum of the West →
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 46 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing