Washington · Nonprofit
WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION
WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Washington) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $412,981 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($282,071). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $413k
- Net assets
- $6.3M
What Whatcom Museum Foundation does
Mission
The foundation was organized to support and promote the oepration of the whatcom museum.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Operations of the museum include curating and hosting exhibits of historical and cultural significance, particularly relevant to the pacific northwest and whatcom county, washington. Operations also include developing and exploiting the museum's archives and collection, sponsoring a wide variety of educational programs, and hosting receptions and other public events relevant to the museum's mission.
$1,180,268 spentof which $35,830 as grants$750,527 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,180,268.
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 2023 to 2024, from $5.6M to $6.8M (+21%).
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: 2021 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $23k → $41k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION’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
WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 47% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 48% · 2022 100% · 2023 71% — 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
75% of WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
73% of WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION'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 $113k that is directly attributable, 57% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $300k 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
WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $268k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$158k
- National Endowment for the Arts$110k
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 WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION: 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 WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Washington) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $412,981 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($282,071). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $412,981 in grants to WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $282,071 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHATCOM MUSEUM FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Whatcom Museum →
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 11 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