Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 1361 organizations whose IRS filings report $725,427,683 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($90,623,332). 759 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9B
- Funders on record
- 1,361
- Grants received
- $725M
- Net assets
- $6.5B
What Smithsonian Institution does
Mission
*increase and diffusion of knowledge* is the mission set forth by james smithson. The smithsonian endeavors to shape the future by preserving our heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research and collections (see schedule o)
$699,785,051 spentof which $18,773,331 as grants$49,613,933 earned by the program55% of program spendingEducation, public programs and exhibitions (see schedule o)
$445,439,271 spentof which $1,352,629 as grants$38,312,299 earned by the program35% of program spendingMembership (see schedule o)
$126,131,378 spent$50,752,503 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,271,355,700.
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 $6.1B to $7.1B (+17%).
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 67% · 2018 69% · 2019 69% · 2020 71% · 2021 63% · 2022 66% · 2023 71% · 2024 71% · 2025 70%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (56% 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 297 funders to 481 funders, grant income rose $41M → $155M.
123 of 1361 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 1361 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
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
42% 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 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 13% · 2019 15% · 2020 13% · 2021 17% · 2022 16% · 2023 48% — 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
35% of SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 49 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $207M arriving through sponsors registered in 31 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
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $976.9M on record.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$813.1M
- National Science Foundation$75.2M
- Smithsonian Institution$60.1M
- Department of Energy$5.5M
- Department of Defense$4.7M
- Department of the Interior$4.6M
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 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 12 related entities
- Clay Fellowships Charitable Trust · exempt
- Blackbird 1846 Energy Fund LP · partnership
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (1) · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (2) · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (1) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: 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 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION?
- SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 1361 organizations whose IRS filings report $725,427,683 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($90,623,332). 759 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION have?
- IRS filings report 1361 organizations giving $725,427,683 in grants to SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 759 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $90,623,332 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 1361 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