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Texas · Nonprofit

Witte Museum

Witte Museum (Texas) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,011,038 to it, the largest being TRIPLE DAWSON FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$16M
Funders on record
128
Grants received
$11M
Net assets
$63M
75/128 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 54%
01What it does

What Witte Museum does

Mission

The Witte Museum inspires people to shape the future of texas through transformative and relevant experiences in nature, science and culture.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. In this period, approximately 350,000 people visited the museum for exhibitions, programs and special events. The musuem continues to encounter challenges relative to achieving pre-pandemic visitation levels.

    $6,209,660 spent$2,287,088 earned by the program
    53% of program spending
  2. The Witte Museum held 728 public programs in this period, including dinosaurs, health and wellness and stem subjects. Approximately 43,150 people attended student, family, and adult programs, gallery theater and demonstrations, educator workshops, programs, and live remote learning.

    $3,153,180 spent$205,034 earned by the program
    27% of program spending
  3. The Witte Museum store offers a variety of books, educational toys and limited-time-only special products related to the exhibits and public programming. These items provide take-away experiences that reinforce the transformative experiences in nature, science and culture of the museum.

    $2,378,740 spent$499,861 earned by the program
    20% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $11,741,580.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($20M) Expenses 100 ($15M) Net assets 100 ($67M)2018 Revenue 63 ($13M) Expenses 102 ($15M) Net assets 97 ($65M)2019 Revenue 68 ($14M) Expenses 95 ($14M) Net assets 96 ($64M)2020 Revenue 16 ($3.3M) Expenses 13 ($2.0M) Net assets 92 ($61M)2021 Revenue 55 ($11M) Expenses 79 ($12M) Net assets 91 ($61M)2022 Revenue 67 ($14M) Expenses 84 ($13M) Net assets 91 ($61M)2023 Revenue 69 ($14M) Expenses 91 ($14M) Net assets 90 ($60M)2024 Revenue 77 ($16M) Expenses 88 ($13M) Net assets 94 ($63M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (77)Expenses (88)Net assets (94)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $86M to $82M (−5%).

$93M
$89M
$86M
$82M
$81M
$82M
$80M
$82M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 11% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 42% · 2021 28% · 2022 6% · 2023 6% · 2024 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

67% of Witte Museum’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 812 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$5.5M
’17
−$2.3M
’18
−$300k
’19
$1.4M
’20
−$583k
’21
$1.1M
’22
$450k
’23
$2.6M
’24
2.8
months of
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.

Chief executive

Dirk Elmendorf

President and CEO

Board chair

Ryan Pape

Board chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed3334293134383835
Joined·+5+3+5+9+9+5+7
No longer listed·48365510
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 28 funders to 56 funders, grant income rose $453k → $2.4M.

13 of 128 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $1.6M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest San Antonio Area Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Witte Museum raised.

From the IRS filings of Witte Museum’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 128 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

Witte Museum has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 9% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left

9%
largest funder
24%
top three
~29
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 28% · 2019 43% · 2020 17% · 2021 11% · 2022 18% · 2023 11% — 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 Witte Museum's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

96% of Witte Museum's grant income comes from Texas funders.

NY
NJ
UT
MO
NC
DC
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Texas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Witte Museum runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin16% · above the median
Months of reserve2.8mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−4% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding Witte Museum receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $625k on record.

Federal$625k
grants $625kcontracts $0
20
21
24
Top agencies
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$550k
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$75k

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 Witte 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 Texas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

90% of spending goes to programs.

Program 90%Management 3%Fundraising 7%

Governance

29
board members
97%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

81%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Witte Foundation · exempt
  • The Witte Title Holding Company · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Witte 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Witte Museum?
Witte Museum (Texas) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,011,038 to it, the largest being TRIPLE DAWSON FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Witte Museum have?
IRS filings report 128 organizations giving $11,011,038 in grants to Witte Museum, 75 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Witte Museum?
TRIPLE DAWSON FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Witte Museum find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Witte 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 128 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