New York · Nonprofit
STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC
STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $37,685,636 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($8,465,360). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $36M
- Funders on record
- 107
- Grants received
- $38M
- Net assets
- $101M
What Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation Inc does
Mission
The statue of liberty-ellis island foundation is a non-profit that collaborates with the national park service in one of america's most successful public-private partnerships. In 1982, president ronald reagan asked lee iacocca to raise private funds for the historic restoration of the statue of liberty and ellis island. The foundation has also created the ellis island national museum of immigration, developed the free 65-million-record ellis island passenger database, constructed the statue of liberty museum, maintained museum exhibits, and funded over 200 additional projects on the islands. The foundation's mission is:to restore and preserve the statue of liberty national monument, which includes ellis island; custody and control of records and other artifacts of historic interest related to the statue of liberty and the millions of immigrants who entered the united states through the port of new york and ellis island as well as all immigration to the united (see continuation)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Ellis museum project: the foundation has been working with the national park service to reimagine the 34-year-old museum for the 21st century. The project will preserve the 125-year-old historic landmark, enhance its exhibits, and tell a more vibrant story of immigration in a building that once processed 12 million immigrants. In addition to performing essential building and systems upgrades, the non-profit foundation will reimagine installations for a more interactive experience, showcase the museum's historic architecture, and improve accessibility throughout its 137,000 square feet. Taken together, these enhancements will offer the museum's two million annual visitors a more compelling and comprehensive experience inside a modernized and more immersive museum. Construction began in march 2024; the museum remains
$24,692,514 spent84% of program spendingAudio tour: under an agreement with the national park service, the foundation operates a audio tour program with content covering liberty island and the ellis island museum. The audio tour is available in 12 languages, as well as an asl and audio descriptor tour. In fiscal year 2025, audio tours were available to the approximately 3.6 million visitors to liberty and ellis islands.
$3,111,179 spent$12,196,093 earned by the program11% of program spendingThe american family immigration history center (afihc) at ellis island welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually. Foundation staff operate the family history center, welcoming visitors to search for their family's records. The foundation's 65-million-record electronic database contains the arrival records of immigrants, passengers, and crew members who entered the united states through the port of new york/ellis island between 1820-1957. The database, which is managed by the foundation, is also available for free at www.libertyellisfoundation.org. Revenues are generated by reservation fees for terminals at the center, as well as sales from historical documents and other mission-related products on the web and at the center.
$753,194 spent$747,192 earned by the program3% of program spendingPublic awareness, education, and programming: the foundation seeks to inform external audiences about the statue of liberty, ellis island, and the foundation's mission and initiatives. The foundation works closely with the national park service on media relations and is active on social media on facebook, youtube, x, instagram, youtube, and linkedin. The foundation curates and develops virtual experiences that ensure our ability to continue cultivating new audiences while also providing free educational content to benefit teachers, students, and the general public. Materials include informative videos about the ellis island immigrant experience, family history research tools, tips for capturing oral histories, ar and vr experiences, and more. Enlisting subject-area experts from our own staff, history advisory committee, and partner organizations, the foundation hosts educational presentations (in person and virtual) relevant to the monuments' histories and immigrant experiences. The foundation partners for select programming, such as with earthcam to provide views of lady liberty and liberty island.
$509,006 spent2% of program spendingLiberty museum care: to support the national park service, foundation staff manage interactive museum exhibits and technology, including the immersive theater with three enormous screens, the popular interactive becoming liberty exhibit, and the liberty star video terminals.
$250,741 spent1% of program spendingEllis exhibit care: to support the national park service, foundation staff manage interactive museum exhibits and technology to enrich the visitor experience at the ellis island museum, including interactive exhibits, a/v, and touchscreens.
$81,477 spent0% of program spendingEllis wall of honor expansion: for more than 30 years, the american immigrant wall of honor has been a unique and lasting monument celebrating countless immigrant stories. Virtually every nationality from every inhabited continent can be found on the wall of honor, alongside those who endured forced migration from slavery and our land's earliest settlers. In response to continued interest in the wall of honor, the foundation expanded the monument to add space for many more individuals and families to commemorate their family's immigrant history.
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,398,111.
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 2018 to 2019, from $112M to $64M (−43%).
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: 2021 5% · 2022 4% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% 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.
Chief executive
Jesse Brackenbury
Dir/pres/CEO
Board chair
Luis Ubinas
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 28 funders, grant income fell $3.1M → $1.8M.
14 of 107 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 107 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
STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
48% 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 STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 21% · 2019 36% · 2020 35% · 2021 21% · 2022 41% · 2023 56% — 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
30% of STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC draws 56% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC's revenue fell 28% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
47%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 29 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION 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 STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC?
- STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $37,685,636 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($8,465,360). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 107 organizations giving $37,685,636 in grants to STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC, 50 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $8,465,360 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STATUE OF LIBERTY ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION INC 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.
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 107 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