Illinois · Nonprofit
SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO
SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,167,184 to it, the largest being VERDANDI LODGE NO3 INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SVITHIOD ($418,925). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $6.8M
What Swedish American Museum Association of Chicago does
Mission
Through its arts and educational programs and its permanent collection, the swedish american museum interprets the immigrant experience for children and adults and promotes an appreciation of contemporary swedish-american culture.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Programs and classes: the swedish american museum offers events, classes and programs celebrating the swedish and the swedish-american culture. The museum held approximately 100 different programs through a combination of lectures, concerts, genealogy sessions and family programs in 2025 with attendance of 16,600. Swedish language classes are held 3 times a year for 10 or 12 weeks each.
$551,021 spent$219,844 earned by the program59% of program spendingExhibits and membership: the museum has approximately 800 memberships with 1,500 members with two special exhibit galleries in addition to its permanent exhibit featuring the immigration to chicago at the end of the 1800s. The collection has approximately 10,000 artifacts and 300 linear feet of archival material that have been donated by members and friends of the museum. During 2025, there were 5 special exhibits in the first-floor gallery featuring artists of swedish or swedish-american descent and a gallery space on the second floor had 3 art exhibits.
$380,312 spent$177,047 earned by the program41% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $931,333.
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 2024 to 2025, from $7.2M to $8.0M (+11%).
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 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 4% · 2020 1% · 2021 10% · 2022 14% · 2023 13% · 2024 10% · 2025 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
75% of SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% 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
Karin Moen Abercrombie
Executive director
Board chair
Joy Thorbjornsen-Coates
Board chair/director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $79k → $126k.
4 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO’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
SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
39% 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 SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 35% · 2019 38% · 2020 43% · 2021 42% · 2022 33% · 2023 33% — 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
70% of SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
57% of SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $345k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$237k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$108k
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 SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
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 SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO: 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 SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO?
- SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,167,184 to it, the largest being VERDANDI LODGE NO3 INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SVITHIOD ($418,925). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $1,167,184 in grants to SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO?
- VERDANDI LODGE NO3 INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SVITHIOD is the largest funder on record, with $418,925 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SWEDISH AMERICAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Swedish American Museum Association of Chicago →
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 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