Ohio · Nonprofit
THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Ohio) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,515,081 to it, the largest being JAMES M SCHOONMAKER II FOUNDATION ($1,350,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.9M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $15M
What The Great Lakes Historical Society does
Mission
The Great Lakes Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of great lakes history.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organization operates the national museum of the great lakes in toledo, ohio that has artifacts and exhibits about the great lakes. The organization educated the public through its maritime research library, events and publications such as its quarterly inland seas journal. The museum includes a freighter that was renovated as part of the new museum.
$979,247 spent$309,260 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $979,247.
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.
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 $6.8M to $12M (+70%).
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 8% · 2021 4% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Mark Barker
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $10k → $882k.
9 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.1M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Clement O Miniger Memorial Foundati Co Trust Company Family Office). These are real filings, and they are not money THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY raised.
From the IRS filings of THE GREAT LAKES 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
THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
48% 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 GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 60% · 2019 81% · 2020 31% · 2021 45% · 2022 75% · 2023 27% — 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
42% of THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY draws 79% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.
Organizations like THE GREAT LAKES 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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
60% 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 THE GREAT LAKES 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 THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Ohio) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,515,081 to it, the largest being JAMES M SCHOONMAKER II FOUNDATION ($1,350,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $3,515,081 in grants to THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- JAMES M SCHOONMAKER II FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,350,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GREAT LAKES HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Great Lakes 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 22 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