New York · Nonprofit
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART (New York) receives grants from 795 organizations whose IRS filings report $227,697,163 to it, the largest being ROY LICHTENSTEIN FOUNDATION ($36,091,300). 522 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $191M
- Funders on record
- 795
- Grants received
- $228M
- Net assets
- $1.0B
What Whitney Museum of American Art does
Mission
The Whitney Museum of American Art presents, collects, and inspires dialogue around art of the united states from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. (see schedule o)we champion living artists, welcome broad audiences, and create dynamic experiences that foster creativity, community, and the exchange of new ideas.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibitions and permanent collection in fy25, the whitney presented 13 exhibitions. These included: the whitney's collection: selections from 1900 to 1965 (june 28, 2019 - may 1, 2025); survival piece #5: portable orchard (june 29, 2024 - january 5, 2025); what it becomes (august 24, 2024 - january 12, 2025); mark armijo mcknight: decreation (august 24, 2024 - january 12, 2025); hyundai terrace commission: torkwase dyson (march 20, 2024 - february 9, 2025); edges of ailey (september 25, 2024 - february 9, 2025); jeanne moutoussamy-ashe and the last gullah islands (december 5, 2024 - may 1, 2025); (see schedule o)
$46,839,000 spent$7,663,000 earned by the program74% of program spendingCuratorial and related supportin fy25, the whitney continued its ongoing study into the more than 27,000 objects in the collection by over 6,000 artists. The whitney continued the work initiated by the museum's collection strategic plan (csp), making targeted acquisitions and implementing decision-making strategies based on the findings of the csp. The museum convened a working group to make plans for the long-term storage of the whitney's holdings, which will be crucial to the care and stewardship of the permanent collection in the future. (see schedule o)
$6,502,000 spent$59,000 earned by the program10% of program spendingEducation programs the whitney education department served a total of 71,970 visitors in person and online through school, youth, family, public, and access and community programs. An additional 61,597 asynchronous users engaged digitally with interpretive content such as audio guides, recorded videos of programs on youtube and podcasts. A total of 16,975 of these in person and online visitors were k-12 students. Education staff worked within and across program areas on zoom to present dynamic programming that explored critical questions about american art, culture and society. (see schedule o)
$6,664,000 spentof which $567,000 as grants11% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$2,903,000 spent$610,000 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $62,908,000.
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 $1.0B to $1.1B (+12%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 9% · 2022 13% · 2023 7% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
27% of WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (56% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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 222 funders to 313 funders, grant income rose $21M → $23M.
42 of 795 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 795 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
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 17% · 2019 63% · 2020 9% · 2021 13% · 2022 9% · 2023 8% — 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
42% of WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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 WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $44M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 43 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 arts & culture nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $486k on record — $485k federal, $670 state.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$250k
- National Endowment for the Arts$235k
- Recreational Supplies$670
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 WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 35 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: 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 WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART?
- WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART (New York) receives grants from 795 organizations whose IRS filings report $227,697,163 to it, the largest being ROY LICHTENSTEIN FOUNDATION ($36,091,300). 522 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART have?
- IRS filings report 795 organizations giving $227,697,163 in grants to WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, 522 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART?
- ROY LICHTENSTEIN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $36,091,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART 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 Whitney Museum of American Art →
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 795 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