Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY
THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $251,189 to it, the largest being CURTIS W MCGRAW FOUNDATION ($130,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $201k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $251k
- Net assets
- $-195665
What The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery does
Mission
To educate the general public, and especially young people, in how to use the scientific method of inquiry to solve problems. The organizations educational mission is carried out in the context of investigating famous historical aviation mysteries. The organizations program services demonstrate how to conduct primary source historical research, formulate informed hypotheses, and test the hypotheses through archival research, archaeology, and forensic data analysis. The organization also provides research services and guidance to individual collectors, government agencies, and museums in responsible aviation historic preservation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The earhart project - ongoing investigation (since 1988) into the 1937 disappearance of pilot amelia earhart and navigator frederick noonan. The investigation includes archaeological search and recovery expeditions, archival research and data analysis. To date, the project has been successful in establishing, to a greater than 99% degree of certainty, that the missing flyers died on the uninhabited pacific island of nikumaroro. Educational outreach includes publication of books, the publication of scientific papers and articles in the organizations journal tighar tracks, postings and video presentations on social media describing research results and methodology. Open-source historical research via the organizations on-line forum, in-person and skype presentations to middle school, high school and undergraduate and graduate university groups, presentation to civic organizations, and one-on-one assistance to students. The organizations free and publicly accessible website includles the worlds largest archive of primary source historical documents related to the earhart disappearance.
$34 spent0% of program spendingGlenn miller investigation - ongoing investigation (since 2017) into the wartime disappearance of iconic band leader maj. Glenn miller aboard a u. S. Army air force aircraft in 1944. The investigation includes archival research, data analysis, and may include archaelogical search and recovery. To date, the project has been successful in establishing the documented circumstances surrounding the fatal flight. Educational outreach includes the publication of scientific papers and articles in the organizations journal tighar tracks, postings on social media describing the research results and methodology, and open-source historical research via the organizations website.
Project midnight ghost - ongoing investigation (since 1985) into the disappearance of french transatlantic aviators charles nungesser and francois coli ten days before the charles lindberghs 1927 flight from new york to paris. The investigation includes archaeological search and recovery expeditions, archival research and data analysis. Educational outreach includes the publication of scientific papers and articles in the organizations journal tighar tracks, postings and video presentations on social media describing research results and methodology, open-source historical research via the organizations on-line forum. Primary source historical documents related to the investigation are publicly accessible on the organizations website.
$787 spent$25 earned by the program2% of program spendingThe maid of harlech - archaeological evaluation and on-going advocacy for the protection and eventual recovery of a rare 1942 lockheed p-38 lightning aircraft discovered buried in the sand of harlech beach in north wales, uk in 2007. To date, the project has been successful in keeping the aircraft safe from looters while official uk legal protection of the site is in process. Educational outreach includes the publication of articles in the organizations journal tighar tracks and on the organizations website.
$43,347 spent98% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $44,168.
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 2024 to 2025, from $384k to $164k (−57%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $30k → $15k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY’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 INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 43% · 2019 100% · 2020 70% · 2021 66% · 2022 62% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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
THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY draws 71% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $63k 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.
Organizations like THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
11% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY: 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 INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY?
- THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $251,189 to it, the largest being CURTIS W MCGRAW FOUNDATION ($130,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $251,189 in grants to THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY?
- CURTIS W MCGRAW FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $130,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP FOR HISTORIC AIRCRAFT RECOVERY 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 International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery →
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 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