Michigan · Nonprofit
WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $109,195 to it, the largest being THE L H FIELD FAMILY FOUNDATION ($82,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $140k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $109k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Waterloo Area Historical Society does
Mission
To educate adults and children in the ways of pioneer farm life and schooling through educational programs and events.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Pioneer farm and one room school house school field trips. This program provides schools the opportunity to bring their elementary school classes to the waterloo farm museum and the dewey school museum. The trip lasts an entire school day. During the trip the students get the opportunity for hands on activities on a nineteenth century pioneer farm and in a one room school house. The activities include cutting wood, fetching water, shilling corn, doing school lessons, etc. During the year the program served close to 1,660 children and adults. The docents for the program are all volunteers. The money raised through this activity is used to maintain and upgrade both the waterloo farm museum and the dewey school.
$29,677 spent64% of program spendingPioneer day this event takes place on the second sunday in october. The grounds of the waterloo farm museum come alive with a great variety of demonstrators showing how families lived and worked during the 1800's. The blacksmiths, weavers, sheep shearers and others demonstrate their skills. The farm house is open for tours. There are vendors present displaying and selling their hand crafted wares. The gift shop is open. There is also a flower barn where a great variety of dried flower arrangements may be purchased. There is a farm wagon where donated farm crops and baked goods may be purchased. Wagon rides and live entertainment are also available. The proceeds from this event are used to help maintain and upgrade the farm museum and dewey school. Attendence between 2,000 and 3,000.
$7,794 spent17% of program spendingChristmas on the farm this event takes place on the first weekend in december. The farm house and grounds are decorated for christmas in the victorian style. There are re- enactors present to give the farm a lived-in feel. Baked goods and handmade christmas decorations are available for sale to those attending. The school is also open and decorated. The proceeds from this event are used to maintain and upgrade farm and school museums. Attendence varies between 500 and 1,000.
$9,156 spent20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $46,627.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.8M to $1.9M (+4%).
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%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY’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. 2 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
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $10 → $20k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY’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
WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 95%; 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: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
44% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: 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 WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Michigan) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $109,195 to it, the largest being THE L H FIELD FAMILY FOUNDATION ($82,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $109,195 in grants to WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY?
- THE L H FIELD FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $82,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATERLOO AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Waterloo Area Historical Society →
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 5 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