Virginia · Nonprofit
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM (Virginia) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,320,996 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($2,429,905). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $6.3M
- Net assets
- $28M
What The American Civil War Museum does
Mission
The mission of The American Civil War Museum is to be the preeminent center for the exploration of the american civil war and its legacies from multiple perspectives: union and confederate, enslaved and free african americans, soldiers and civilians.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The American Civil War Museum (acwm) was created in 2013, bringing together the museum of the confederacy (moc) and the american civil war center at historic tredegar (acwc). A new 501(c)3 was formed to operate the enterprise while preserving assets of the predecessor institutions as subsidiaries of the new museum. The moc's world-class artifact and archival collection remains within The American Civil War Museum collection, formerly known as the confederate memorial literary society, auspices. The acwc retains its collections and license agreements. All assets are used to support the work of The American Civil War Museum. The acwm operates three locations: acwm - historic tredegar, acwm - white house of the confederacy, and acwm - appomattox.
$2,904,932 spent$929,329 earned by the program84% of program spendingIn addition to its exhibits program, the museum offers educational programs that further its mission. Year-round tours are offered to school, youth and adult visitors at each of its three locations. The museum offers lectures, book signings, community-wide special events, living history, live theater and other performing arts, symposia and teacher workshops, community outreach includes providing personnel for lectures and presentations related to the period for a variety of off-site programs. The museum also publishes a quarterly magazine that showcases its impressive and unsurpassed collection; new scholarship; initiatives and programs to better engage its membership, donors and other interested parties.
$565,626 spent$14,013 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,470,558.
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 2017 to 2018, from $32M to $38M (+19%).
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 10% · 2022 20% · 2023 7% · 2024 1% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
57% of THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Rob Havers
CEO & presid
Board chair
Daniel G Stoddard
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $579k → $700k.
11 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 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
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
61% 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 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 55% · 2019 71% · 2020 45% · 2021 40% · 2022 58% · 2023 59% — 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
21% of THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
75% of THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM's grant income comes from Virginia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M 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
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM is better cushioned than half 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
Organizations like THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 50 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- American Civil War Mus Collection · exempt
- The American Civil War Museum Fndn · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM: 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 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM?
- THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM (Virginia) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,320,996 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($2,429,905). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $6,320,996 in grants to THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,429,905 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 American Civil War Museum →
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 65 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