Minnesota · Nonprofit
STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Minnesota) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $634,307 to it, the largest being COMMUNITYGIVING ($356,372). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $993k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $634k
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What Stearns County Historical Society does
Mission
The stearns history museum connects people to the power of history and culture by collecting, preserving, and interpreting our historical and cultural resources. The stearns history museum will be a place where citizens of central minnesota can honor their diverse history and recognize that the past is what built the present and is a road map to the future. In 2024 programs service accomplishments reflected four key areas that relate directly to the museum's mission.a.) educational servicesb.) museum exhibitions and collectionsc.) archival and research servicesd.) museum operations
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibits:- long term exhibits: -on solid ground: newly renovated exhibit that tells the story of the granite industry and its impact on the growth of central minnesota. - 33rd and cooper: 50 acres of opportunity. Explore the history of the industrial hub in st cloud from the pan motor company through electrolux. Discover the rich history of manufacturing in the region. -flowing through time: stearns county in 1855 was a pristine wilderness with multiple ecosystems. As settlers came resources were needed to sustain the growing population. Today citizens are making difficult choices to ensure the sustainability of those resources and they continue to provide a clean environment for citizens of the future. - rising to the crisis: stearns county responds to world war ii. Discover the many ways stearns county citizens responded to world war ii both at home and abroad. - minnesota's secret language school explores the history of the military intelligence service language schools known as america's secret weapon against japan during ww ii. - why treaties matter: self-government in the dakota and ojibwe nations.
$247,585 spent31% of program spendingMusuem operations: the museum worked with the local stearns county historical organizations to provide grants and expertise in collections care, exhibit design, archival care, and management. Those museums are cold spring area historical society, kimball area historical society, melrose area historical society, paynesville area historical society, haehn museum, sauk centre area historical society, sinclair lewis foundation, and st. Joseph area historical society.- the museum continues to be a polling site for national and local elections. - 23 volunteers contributed 2303 hours to the museum in 2024.
$165,099 spent21% of program spendingArchival and research services: research, publication, and archival services are provided in conjunction with public programming that encourages an understanding of and appreciation for local and state history. Over 48,000 biographical/subject files, maps, photographic images, archives/manuscript collections, library books, and oral histories are listed on the museum's library catalog, which is accessed on its website.
$240,174 spent30% of program spendingEducational services. The stearns history museum conducts public programming that interprets the history of stearns county and minnesota. Schools, families, and individuals use the museum to better understand and appreciate local & state history and their place in it. School tours and summer programming: - shm provides tours and program for k-university students. Programs include archeology, environmental studies, and subsistence farming. Family programming: - harvest festival a celebration of fall in central minnesota with games and activities for family members of all ages. - at war and at home: a world war ii living history experience. A weekend full of activities for kids of all ages to discover the history of world war ii and its impact on minnesotans through presentations, demonstrations, activities and interacting with reenactors.adult programming:- breakfast club - monthly speaker series, averaging 80 attendees per month, that brings both contemporary and historic issues that have or are facing stearns county and minnesota residents. Topics such as refugess, historic preservation, and farming are discussed.- century farm program - stearns county has the largest recognized…
$141,434 spent18% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $794,292.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.5M to $1.7M (+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 66% · 2018 62% · 2019 67% · 2020 74% · 2021 81% · 2022 64% · 2023 77% · 2024 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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.
Chief executive
Amy Degerstrom
Executive director
Board chair
Stephanie Peterson
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $85k → $207k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY’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
STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% 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
99% 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 STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 51% · 2019 57% · 2020 82% · 2021 100% · 2022 99% · 2023 57% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
57% of STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY'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 $273k that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $361k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 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
Government funding STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $79k on record.
- Department of Justice$58k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$21k
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 STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% 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
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: 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 STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Minnesota) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $634,307 to it, the largest being COMMUNITYGIVING ($356,372). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $634,307 in grants to STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- COMMUNITYGIVING is the largest funder on record, with $356,372 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEARNS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Stearns County Historical Society →
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 7 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