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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC

THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,898,569 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($487,500). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$3.0M
Funders on record
32
Grants received
$1.9M
Net assets
$18M
17/32 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What The Bucks County Historical Society Inc does

Mission

Inspired by the vision and creativity of henry c. Mercer, it is the mission of the bucks county historical society to cultivate among its many audiences a broad appreciation and awareness of the past, helping people find stories and meanings that both sustain them in the present and aid them in approaching the future.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Library - preservation of historical material on bucks county - newspaper, county records, manuscripts, maps and other sources of research material.

    $330,498 spent$6,936 earned by the program
    14% of program spending
  2. Museum - housing, preserving, and labeling artifacts for display to the public.

    $1,002,518 spent$496,851 earned by the program
    43% of program spending
  3. Education - to educate the public about bucks county history and tools and artifacts of the past.

    $999,248 spent$133,063 earned by the program
    43% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,332,264.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.4M) Expenses 100 ($2.3M) Net assets 100 ($24M)2018 Revenue 124 ($1.8M) Expenses 102 ($2.4M) Net assets 93 ($22M)2019 Revenue 148 ($2.1M) Expenses 112 ($2.6M) Net assets 96 ($23M)2020 Revenue 140 ($2.0M) Expenses 118 ($2.7M) Net assets 99 ($23M)2021 Revenue 219 ($3.2M) Expenses 133 ($3.1M) Net assets 99 ($23M)2022 Revenue 151 ($2.2M) Expenses 146 ($3.4M) Net assets 84 ($20M)2023 Revenue 194 ($2.8M) Expenses 181 ($4.2M) Net assets 82 ($19M)2024 Revenue 210 ($3.0M) Expenses 194 ($4.5M) Net assets 76 ($18M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (210)Expenses (194)Net assets (76)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $26M to $22M (−15%).

$25M
$24M
$24M
$26M
$26M
$22M
$22M
$21M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 3% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 3% · 2021 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$892k
’17
−$586k
’18
−$478k
’19
−$729k
’20
$50k
’21
−$1.2M
’22
−$1.4M
’23
−$1.5M
’24
0.6
months of
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.

Board chair

Linda Hodgdon

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2824272827282830
Joined·+2+7+4+4+5+8+7
No longer listed·6435485
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $52k → $225k.

7 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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 BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 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 THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC.

26%
largest funder
51%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 45% · 2019 31% · 2020 29% · 2021 49% · 2022 52% · 2023 50% — 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

41% of THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

79% of THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.

NY
MA
PA
CA
DE
NC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Pennsylvania out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $226k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $152k on record.

Federal$152k
grants $152kcontracts $0
20
22
Top agencies
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$152k

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 THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

57% of spending goes to programs.

Program 57%Management 34%Fundraising 9%

Governance

26
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

82%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

PA

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Trustees of the Mercer Fonthill Museum · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 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.

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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 BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC?
THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,898,569 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($487,500). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC have?
IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $1,898,569 in grants to THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC?
THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $487,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Bucks 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 32 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing