Grants for museums

Name: Top 25 grants made to museums
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

2,674 museums received at least $406.6 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 7,854 grants made from 4,372 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 4,372 foundations, 68% made just a single grant to museums, and 7% made grants to four or more museums. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$406,614,817

Total grant dollars given to museums

7,854

Number of grants made annually to museums

4,372

Number of grantmakers funding museums

$1,000

Median grant size to museums

Foundations that support museums

Out of all grants made to museums, 82% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 74% of the dollar-value of grants to museums. Foundations funding museums also made grants to art museums, colleges, history museums, historical societies, and performing arts centers.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	3,608
Medium	470
Large	294

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	65
Private	3,923
Corporate	167
Other	217

Grants made

Grants made to museums	Number of grantmakers
1	3,003
2-3	1,062
4-10	270
11+	37

Top 10 foundations supporting museums

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to museums	Number of grants made to museums	Median grant size
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	111	$250
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.3%	107	$1,000
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.4%	89	$1,500
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.2%	73	$1,500
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.2%	55	$1,000
Baird Foundation	WI	National	1.2%	39	$1,000
Charity Partners Foundation	MA	National	0.9%	38	$10
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.2%	36	$1,000
Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF)	WA	Metro	0.6%	34	$1,000
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	30	$134

See all grantmaking to museums

Museums grantees

Museums with more than $5 million in total revenues received 90% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 55% of all museums.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	7,816
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	38

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,250
$500k-$1M	$1,250
$1M-$5M	$1,200
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	1,444
California	732
Massachusetts	391
Texas	361
Other	4,926

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	1,264
Washington DC	387
Los Angeles	268
Boston	221
Other	5,109

Top 25 grants made to museums

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Museum of Fine Arts	$105,485,818	Cash and Net Asset Value	Fidelity Non-Profit Management Foundation
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	$42,905,821	FMV	Academy Foundation
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	$42,490,621	Sup. of Related Org	Academy Foundation
Whitney Museum of American Art	$34,299,800	Donation of Cash and Artworks By Roy Lichtenstein for the Museum's Collection of His Work	Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art	$11,500,000	Arts & Culture	Town Branch Foundation
Taubman Museum of Art	$11,005,187	Operating Contribution	Taubman Foundation for the Arts
The Gilcrease Museum Management Trust The University of Tulsa	$10,000,000	Campaign for Gilcrease	A. R. and Marylouise Tandy Foundation
South Boston-Halifax County Museum of Fine Arts and History	$10,000,000	The Acquisition of the Howard Greenberg Collection	Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Charitable Trust
Portland Art Museum	$9,431,837	Arts, Culture & Humanities	The Oregon Community Foundation
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art	$8,000,000	Arts & Culture	The Builders Initiative
Walt Disney Family Museum (WDFM)	$7,361,417	FMV	Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation
Walt Disney Family Museum (WDFM)	$7,361,417	Education/arts	Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation
Discovery Park of America	$5,822,474	Education	Robert E and Jenny D Kirkland Foundation
Denver Art Museum	$5,500,000	Construction	University of Denver (DU)
Grammy Museum Foundation	$5,243,964	Contributions and Program Service Support	RECORDING Academy
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art	$5,200,000	Capital Campaign	Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
National Museum of World War II Aviation	$5,120,000	To Promote Further Understanding of American Wwii Aviation	Slattery Family Foundation
Museum of Fine Arts	$5,000,000	Construction, Organization Support	Fidelity Non-Profit Management Foundation
Smithsonian Institution (SI)	$5,000,000	To Establish Endowments at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Support of the Museum's Directorship and Curatorial Research Centers	Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Smithsonian Institution (SI)	$3,705,652	Sub-Award	Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Museum of Automotive Icons	$3,600,000	2019 Automobile Collection Restricted Grant	Greater Manhattan Community Foundation
Denver Art Museum	$3,597,272	General Support	The Denver Art Museum Foundation
Medal of Honor Museum Foundation	$3,500,000	Architectural	Arlington Tomorrow Foundation
The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education	$3,235,705	General Support	Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum	$3,078,000	General Support	Burnett Foundation

See all grants to museums

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Museums" category for this page is determined by the "A50: Museums" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.