Connecticut · Nonprofit
THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,515,922 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($405,825). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 38
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $6.7M
What The New Canaan Historical Society Inc does
Mission
The new canaan museum & historical society is a cultural institution that focuses on preservation, modernism, education and community. Through exhibits, programs, library services and events, we celebrate history and explore its role in shaping the future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The society's daily operations encompass many different activities:the society maintains and operates new canaan's first town hall (1825), now expanded to house a library and vault with documents, genealogies, art artifacts, as well as the silliman-monroe-cody drug store museum (1846) and an extensive clothing and textile collection; the hanford-silliman house museum (c.1764); the rodgers studio museum (1878); the tool museum and nineteenth -century printing office; the rock school (1799); off campus the little red school house (1855), and the mid-cnetury modern gores pavillion (1960). It operates a research library; a full schedule of educational programs for both children and adults; a plaquing program for historic homes;
$509,593 spent$81,086 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $509,593.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2020 to 2021, from $2.8M to $4.7M (+66%).
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 5% · 2020 12% · 2021 3% · 2022 5% · 2023 7% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% 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
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
Nancy Geary
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $85k → $134k.
6 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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: $123k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest New Canaan Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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 NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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
62% 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 NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 46% · 2019 74% · 2020 41% · 2021 28% · 2022 34% · 2023 39% — 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
43% of THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
55% of THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC'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 $675k that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from funders outside Connecticut, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $841k 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.
Against its field
THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $68k on record.
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$68k
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 NEW CANAAN 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 NEW CANAAN 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.
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 NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC?
- THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,515,922 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($405,825). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $1,515,922 in grants to THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $405,825 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE NEW CANAAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 New Canaan Historical Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 38 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