Massachusetts · Nonprofit
WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM
WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM (Massachusetts) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,772,289 to it, the largest being GREATER WORCESTER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($2,824,455). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 49
- Grants received
- $6.8M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Worcester Historical Museum does
Mission
Worcester Historical Museum is a unique organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, and interpreting worcester's history in all time periods and subject areas.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibits - the museum presented a full calendar of large and small exhibitions, including: somos worcester- the latino perspective, representing worcester: harriette l. Chandler, the chin family of worcester, and the re-installation/re-interpretation of the fuller gallery of industrial history, which opened for the 150th anniversary on january 23, 2025. Each exhibit was accompanied by various programs-demonstrations, lectures, discussions, etc. In addition, intensive preparation (research, design, etc.) was undertaken for the may 2025 exhibit. The poem next door in partnership with the college of the holy cross.
$276,271 spent$52,300 earned by the program30% of program spendingCollections - the museum's collection of more than 30,200 physical objects expanded during the year to include: wwii military uniforms, a two-cent piece 1864 u.s. Coin, notable as the first to bear the motto "in god we trust," introduced during the civil war for national unity, and a woodbury company 100th anniversary plate
$121,719 spent$5,000 earned by the program13% of program spendingLibrary - the museum's library and archive continued to grow in content and expand relative to access to all, while addressing an ever-increasing, almost daily requests for student project assistance, inquiries from scholarly researchers, and photograph and other illustration support for local governmental projects, commercial enterprises (restaurant walls and corporate office, as examples). Eighteen library volunteers offered 2,088 hours of work, 243 email requests were received, 65 in-person research visitors came to the library, and an additional 152 inquiries were received via telephone. New collections include 4 publications from david nader's bat city press publishing company - one being congress alley, mustard seed and anti-war collections of michael boover, david lincoln's letters from gen. William sever lincoln and family, and family genealogy collections, and various advertisements and other publications from local businesses/industries.
$196,470 spent$2,382 earned by the program21% of program spendingOn-site visitors totaled 15,057 with an additional 3,854 from in-community projects/presentations. Social media and digital impacts: 14,729 unique facebook followers, 5736 instagram followers, 114,867 website pages views, and 22,284 unique website visitors. Every public school 5th grader visited during the year to participate in a two-hour culture leap-funded project, as well as visits to exhibits and the library from other public school and local college groups.
$331,047 spent$80,589 earned by the program36% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $925,507.
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 2020 to 2021, from $17M to $20M (+16%).
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 13% · 2022 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM’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. 5 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.
Chief executive
William Wallace
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $601k → $425k.
7 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 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
WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% 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 WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 66% · 2019 45% · 2020 55% · 2021 64% · 2022 66% · 2023 81% — 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
47% of WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
98% of WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM is better cushioned than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $710k on record — $162k federal, $548k state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$162k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$548k
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 WORCESTER HISTORICAL 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
41% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
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 WORCESTER HISTORICAL 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.
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 WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM?
- WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM (Massachusetts) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,772,289 to it, the largest being GREATER WORCESTER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($2,824,455). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $6,772,289 in grants to WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM?
- GREATER WORCESTER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,824,455 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Worcester Historical Museum →
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 49 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