Rhode Island · Nonprofit
STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (Rhode Island) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,460,654 to it, the largest being POSNER FOUNDATION OF PITTSBURGH ($850,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $706k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $452k
What Steamship Historical Society of America does
Mission
The society was organized to preserve and disseminate the history of engine-powered vessels.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Steamship Historical Society of America promotes and coordinates the activities of collectors and historians of material related to steam and other power driven water vessels. Powerships is an 88-page full color printed magazine, which is published and distributed quarterly. It has been continuously produced since 1940, when it began as the steamboat bill of facts. The historical collections of the society consist of books, prints, paintings, photographs, slides, literature, models and other memorabilia related to engine-powered water vessels. The organization also operates the 6,000+ square foot ship history center, which includes 10,000 volume library, hundreds of thousands of photographs and tens of thousands of other documents and ephemera relating to the history of engine-powered vessels. Sshsa emphasizes three important maritime themes- immigration, trade & leisure, and focuses its educational outreach to the next generation by highlighting "s.t.e.a.m."-science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
The Steamship Historical Society of America promotes and coordinates the activities of collectors and historians of material related to steam and other power driven water vessels. Powerships is a quarterly magazine that is produced and distributed, which contains historical and current articles concerning engine-powered water vessels. The historical collections of the society consist of books, prints, paintings, photographs, slides, literature, models and other memorabilia related to engine-powered water vessels. The organization also maintains a library which contains information on the history of engine-powered water vessels.
$424,791 spent100% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $424,791.
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 $2.7M to $1.6M (−39%).
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%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $20k → $175k.
8 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA’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
STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 52% · 2020 73% · 2021 86% · 2022 60% · 2023 86% — 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
38% of STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $221k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA: 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 STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA?
- STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (Rhode Island) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,460,654 to it, the largest being POSNER FOUNDATION OF PITTSBURGH ($850,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $1,460,654 in grants to STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA?
- POSNER FOUNDATION OF PITTSBURGH is the largest funder on record, with $850,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Steamship Historical Society of America →
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 15 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