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New York · Nonprofit

Seward House Museum

Seward House Museum (New York) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,210,021 to it, the largest being FRED L EMERSON FOUNDATION INC ($6,826,221). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.8M
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$7.2M
Net assets
$15M
9/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 50%
01What it does

What Seward House Museum does

Mission

To preserve and memorializing the historic Seward House Museum, the former home of William Seward. The Organization is charged with preserving and memorializing the material and intellectual legacy of William H. Seward and William H. Seward Jr. The Museum is dedicated to interpreting, perpetuating, promulgating, enhancing and serving as a study center for the substantial contributions which William H. Seward made to the State of New York and to the Nation.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Preserving and memorializing the historic Seward House Museum, the former home of william seward. The organization is charged with preserving and memorializing the material and intellectual legacyof william h. Seward and william h. Seward jr. The museum is dedicated to interperting, perpetuating, promulatgating, enhancing and serving as a study center for the substantial contributions which william h. Seward made to the state of new york and the nation.

    $1,013,422 spent$1,065,310 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,013,422.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($777k) Expenses 100 ($584k) Net assets 100 ($4.5M)2019 Revenue 81 ($632k) Expenses 127 ($740k) Net assets 103 ($4.7M)2020 Revenue 59 ($455k) Expenses 93 ($544k) Net assets 110 ($5.0M)2021 Revenue 1406 ($11M) Expenses 120 ($701k) Net assets 345 ($16M)2022 Revenue -21 ($-159347) Expenses 131 ($766k) Net assets 295 ($13M)2023 Revenue 147 ($1.1M) Expenses 235 ($1.4M) Net assets 322 ($15M)2024 Revenue 361 ($2.8M) Expenses 545 ($3.2M) Net assets 319 ($15M)
2017201920202021202220232024
Revenue (361)Expenses (545)Net assets (319)Peer revenue range

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 $5.1M to $16M (+212%).

$4.6M
$4.8M
$5.1M
$16M
$13M
$15M
$15M
2017201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 28% · 2021 1% · 2023 46% · 2024 57%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

59% of Seward House Museum’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

’17
−$108k
’19
−$89k
’20
$10M
’21
−$925k
’22
−$227k
’23
−$385k
’24
2.6
months of
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

Billye Chabot

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2017201920202021202220232024
Listed18202018181716
Joined··+0+3+0+5+3
No longer listed··05064
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $19k → $256k.

1 of 19 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 Seward House 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

Seward House Museum leans on a few funders — its largest provides 95% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

95%
largest funder
98%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 96% · 2019 100% · 2020 94% · 2021 99% · 2022 72% · 2023 80% — growing more concentrated.

“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

33% of Seward House Museum's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

100% of Seward House Museum's grant income comes from New York funders.

NY
PA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Seward House Museum has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−14% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.6mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)20% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding Seward House Museum receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $811k on record.

Federal$811k
grants $811kcontracts $0
20
21
23
25
Top agencies
  • Department of the Interior$500k
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$200k
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$111k

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 Seward House 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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

89% of spending goes to programs.

Program 89%Management 8%Fundraising 3%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

94%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Seward House 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Seward House Museum?
Seward House Museum (New York) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,210,021 to it, the largest being FRED L EMERSON FOUNDATION INC ($6,826,221). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Seward House Museum have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $7,210,021 in grants to Seward House Museum, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Seward House Museum?
FRED L EMERSON FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,826,221 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Seward House Museum find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Seward House Museum →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 19 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