California · Nonprofit
THE EAMES INSTITUTE
THE EAMES INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $146,849,962 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($136,858,962). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $65M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $147M
- Net assets
- $134M
What The Eames Institute does
Mission
The Eames Institute is a 501(c)(3) public charity with a mission of cultivating curiosity to solve problems at any scale. Our aim is to equip everyone with the living lessons of charles and ray eames so that they can use design to make positive changes in their own world. Preservation, archiving, cataloging, and documenting the design archives of charles and ray eames in preparation of eames institute educational programs, scholarly and institutional engagement and loans, and general public access.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Continued preservation, archive, and catalog of eames works and related collections in preparation for scholar and general public access.
$1,961,771 spentof which $293,900 as grants20% of program spendingEducation programs. As a newly-formed entity, the institute worked in 2024 on planning and developing its educational programs to include educational tours and workshops related to the agriculture and design of the property.
$4,443,204 spent45% of program spendingContinued planning and developing educational programs to include educational tours and workshops of its collection, located in richmond, calif., and related to the agriculture and design of the eames ranch property in petaluma.
$3,514,329 spent35% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,919,304.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2023 to 2024, from $84M to $136M (+62%).
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: 2020 1% · 2021 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of THE EAMES INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
John Cary
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $100k → $53M.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 EAMES INSTITUTE’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
THE EAMES INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 93% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 EAMES INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 79% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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
100% of THE EAMES INSTITUTE'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 $261k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $147M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 EAMES INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like THE EAMES INSTITUTE
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 California
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
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 5 related entities
- San Antonio Valley LLC · disregarded
- Moon Safari LLC Eames Ranch · disregarded
- Richmond Bayview Warehouses LLC · disregarded
- Marin Land Holdings 1 · disregarded
- Marin Creek LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE EAMES INSTITUTE: 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 EAMES INSTITUTE?
- THE EAMES INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $146,849,962 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($136,858,962). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE EAMES INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $146,849,962 in grants to THE EAMES INSTITUTE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE EAMES INSTITUTE?
- AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $136,858,962 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE EAMES INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 6 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