New York · Nonprofit
THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM
THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM (New York) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,616,616 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($1,224,166). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $963k
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $9.9M
What The Skyscraper Museum does
Mission
To devote energy and effort to the design history, theory, and practice of urban architecture, planning, and design, the development of cities and urban development, the relationship between built objects and systems and the lives of people in cities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The museum offers educational programs in person and virtual, such as free curators tours; monthly author talks held in our galleries; panel programs and lectures for professional and general-interest audiences. It also hosts family programs on saturday mornings, in which children engage with an educator to explore the principles of urbanism, architecture, and engineering through hands-on activities.
$292,970 spent60% of program spendingThe museum has major exhibitions each year, which explore the themes of urban vitality, identity, and culture.
$109,864 spent23% of program spendingEducational tours - the museum provides tours of its exhibits and collections to groups from elementary through college level classes and senior groups during special morning hours and all day on mondays and tuesdays. Educators lease tours (up to 30 students) that incorporate learning from across the new york state curriculum, including science, mathematics, the arts, and social studies. Students leave with an appreciation of skyscrapers and their role in society as well as a better understanding of the methods of constructing tall buildings.
$48,828 spent$7,856 earned by the program10% of program spendingPlanning and design - the development of cities and urban environment, the relationship between built objects and systems and the lives of people in cities.
$36,622 spent8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $488,284.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $7.7M to $9.2M (+18%).
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: 2017 6% · 2018 0% · 2019 2% · 2020 5% · 2021 13% · 2022 23% · 2023 19% · 2024 11% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
James Von Klemperer
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 8 funders, grant income fell $75k → $33k.
4 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM’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 SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
80% 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 SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 27% · 2019 93% · 2020 97% · 2021 17% · 2022 25% · 2023 30% — 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
44% of THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
80% of THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM'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 $327k that is directly attributable, 94% of it comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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 SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
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 SKYSCRAPER 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. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM?
- THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM (New York) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,616,616 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($1,224,166). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $1,616,616 in grants to THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,224,166 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Skyscraper Museum →
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 25 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