Virginia · Nonprofit
THE MARINERS' MUSEUM
THE MARINERS' MUSEUM (Virginia) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,394,850 to it, the largest being THE BATTEN FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
THE MARINERS' MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Virginia Peninsula Foodbanklocal
- The Rice Family Charitable Foundationportfolio match
- The Edward Marthann Samek Foundationportfolio match
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.
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: 2018 1% · 2020 35% · 2021 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of THE MARINERS' MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $86k → $1.2M.
11 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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: $27M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Mariners Museum Trust No 2 Xxxxx2009). These are real filings, and they are not money THE MARINERS' MUSEUM raised.
From the IRS filings of THE MARINERS' MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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 MARINERS' MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 52% · 2019 31% · 2020 17% · 2021 21% · 2022 86% · 2023 20% — 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
56% of THE MARINERS' MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
84% of THE MARINERS' 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. $383k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 56 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Virginia Peninsula FoodbanklocalVA · funds 74 organizations near you
- The Rice Family Charitable Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Edward Marthann Samek Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The O'Shaughnessy Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Kassouf Family Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Haven Trustportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Kane Wallace Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pritzker Military Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bernardine Franciscan Sisters Foundation InclocalVA · funds 25 organizations near you
- Achievable Dream Endowment InclocalVA · funds 11 organizations near you
- United Way of the Virginia PeninsulalocalVA · funds 20 organizations near you
- Firstspark InclocalVA · funds 13 organizations near you
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding THE MARINERS' MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.5M on record.
- Department of Commerce$2.4M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.1M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$777k
- Department of the Interior$162k
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 MARINERS' MUSEUM
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE MARINERS' 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE MARINERS' MUSEUM?
- THE MARINERS' MUSEUM (Virginia) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,394,850 to it, the largest being THE BATTEN FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE MARINERS' MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $10,394,850 in grants to THE MARINERS' MUSEUM, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE MARINERS' MUSEUM?
- THE BATTEN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE MARINERS' 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.
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 56funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing