Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER
YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,518,011 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,988,500). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 38
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $37M
What York County History Center does
Mission
The York County History Center understands the past to illuminate the future, through inclusive, authentic storytelling, and preservation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
A major aspect of all of the history center's program-related activities are the organization's 140,000 total square feet of museum galleries, historic sites, and collections storage. With only a facilities staff of two, the history center maintains the internal and external spaces of the history center museum and library & archives; the bonham house; the colonial complex (which is comprised of the general gates house and golden plough tavern, the barnett bobb log house; and the reconstructed colonial court house); fire museum, agricultural & industrial museum. In addition, this same staff assists in the construction and installation of displays/equipment of new exhibits.
$1,361,246 spent$22,633 earned by the program50% of program spendingThe York County History Center's exhibits & collections department is responsible for the preservation and interpretation of about 90,000 artifacts across eight sites and encompassing the history of york county, pennsylvania and its inhabitants through time. The collections - ranging from textiles to militaria, artwork, agricultural implements, native american objects, and numerous decorative arts pieces - are used in a variety of museum exhibitions throughout the year to provide rich, educational experiences and for research purposes for the local york county community and beyond.
$548,400 spent$60,653 earned by the program20% of program spendingDuring the past fiscal year (july 2024- june 2025) the history center welcomed 21,047 visitors to its sites as visitors, program participants, library researchers, and special event attendees. Of that number, more than 2,820 students participated in field trips to the history center's five museums. School age programming includes thematic tours focusing on york county's colonial and revolutionary era history, the civil war period, industrial and manufacturing heritage and more. These programs provide an overview of state and local history and align with the pennsylvania board of education academic standards. The history center was able to offer 65 programs reaching a diverse audience base through demonstrations, a monthly lecture series, workshops, and interactive experiences at both online and in-person. In addition, the history center hosts a number of community organizations' monthly meetings and programs often open to the public free of charge. Traditional partnerships continued, such as support for the city of york special events, re-enactor groups for living history events, and the york county convention and visitors bureau for promotion and coordination of county wide…
$491,200 spent$67,858 earned by the program18% of program spendingThe history center's library & archives houses an extensive and varied collection covering a wide range of topics including genealogy and family history, local history, the decorative arts and military history with the emphasis of york county history. Over 1,892 patrons visited the history center's library & archives during this past fiscal year including school groups and college students. The library staff fielded nearly 678 emails and 235 phone calls and processed 48 research requests and 27 photo reproduction requests. It also co-hosts three monthly meetings/programs: allvets oral history program, the south central pennsylvania genealogical society and the york civil war round table. The library & archives also publishes the annual journal of york county heritage. Over 138 donations to the library & archives were received.
$313,611 spent$33,939 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,714,457.
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 $28M to $35M (+26%).
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 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 4% · 2020 1% · 2021 12% · 2022 5% · 2023 14% · 2024 25% · 2025 80%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Dennis Baughman D Ed
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $866k → $2.6M.
9 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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
YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
56% 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 YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 51% · 2019 28% · 2020 20% · 2021 35% · 2022 62% · 2023 48% — growing more concentrated.
“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
60% of YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
84% of YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $272k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$124k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$111k
- Department of the Interior$37k
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 YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER: 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 YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER?
- YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,518,011 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,988,500). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $14,518,011 in grants to YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $3,988,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 York County History Center →
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 38 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