Maryland · Nonprofit
WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (Maryland) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,196,593 to it, the largest being NORA ROBERTS FOUNDATION ($768,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $32M
What Washington County Museum of Fine Arts does
Mission
The mission is implemented through: intentional art collecting in the focus areas of american art and world cultures, barrier free public access and free admission to art collections of national importance, vigilant preservation and stewardship of art,appealing exhibitions and
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The mission is implemented through the development, interpretation and care of art collections; creation of original and educational exhibitions; and presentation of interpretive lectures, concerts, art instruction and other programs to ensure that visitors gain a better appreciation and understanding of the fine arts. The museum actively collects works of art in the fields of american art, world cultures, and art of the region. Accredited by the american alliance of museums, admission to the museum is free and its collection includes over 6,500 works of art. Over eighty-five years ago, hagerstown native, anna brugh singer and her husband, noted american impressionist painter, william henry singer, established an art museum and gave it to the community with the proviso that admission be free in perpetuity. Their largesse and the generosity of many subsequent collectors built a remarkable art collection in washington county.
$314,756 spent21% of program spendingThe presentation of art collections, and associated interpretive activities requires the maintenance of a specialized and architecturally significant building and grounds. The opportunity for the public to encounter highly significant works of art in a beautiful setting, and with safety and security are important values of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts has an enduring commitment to arts education and to the support of regional artists. The museum regularly offers studio art courses, art historical lectures, concerts, and exhibitions from its permanent collection and traveling exhibitions.
$771,433 spent51% of program spendingLectures, concerts, family festivals, workshops, docent tours and art classes are part of the ongoing educational activities at the museum. The museum has offered art classes since its founding; earliest instructors included thomas danaher and tony carnelli, both works progress administration (wpa) artists, and miss mary harter, who, from the first day the museum opened, taught the saturday children's program for more than 30 years.
$316,154 spent$30,456 earned by the program21% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$105,870 spent7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,508,213.
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 2024 to 2025, from $29M to $32M (+11%).
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 11% · 2018 9% · 2019 20% · 2020 18% · 2021 29% · 2022 64% · 2023 27% · 2024 5% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS’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. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $141k → $208k.
7 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS’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
WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
31% 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 WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 89% · 2019 53% · 2020 40% · 2021 53% · 2022 45% · 2023 51% — 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.
How long its funders stay
47% of WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
91% of WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $679k 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.
Against its field
WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.4M on record — $212k federal, $1.1M state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$143k
- National Endowment for the Arts$35k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$34k
- Grant$1.1M
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 WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: 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 WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS?
- WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (Maryland) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,196,593 to it, the largest being NORA ROBERTS FOUNDATION ($768,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $2,196,593 in grants to WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS?
- NORA ROBERTS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $768,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WASHINGTON COUNTY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Washington County Museum of Fine Arts →
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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing