Museum of Us

What Museum of Us does

The Museum of Us is a 501(c)(3) cultural anthropology museum located in Balboa Park, San Diego, founded in 1915 as the San Diego Museum at the Panama-California Exposition and rebranded in August 2020 to reflect an explicit anti-racist and decolonizing strategic posture. The institution occupies the historic California Quadrangle, including the California Building, the Irving J. Gill Administration Building, and the California Tower, on land recognized as the unceded ancestral homeland of the Kumeyaay Nation. It stewards over 75,000 ethnographic objects, 350,000 archaeological cultural resources, 50,000 photographic images, 300 linear feet of archival materials, and approximately 7,000 Ancestors representing more than 400 Indigenous communities globally.

The museum's programmatic portfolio combines permanent and touring exhibits (including "Race: Power, Resistance & Change," "hapa.me," "Kumeyaay: Native Californians/Iipai-Tipai," "Maya Peoples," "Ancient Egypt," "Cannibals: Myth & Reality," "BEERology," "PostSecret," and "Hostile Terrain 94"), paid California Tower tours at $10 per visitor, event rentals in the 100-year-old Saint Francis Chapel and the California Tower proposal package, K-12 educational programs, sensory-friendly and community programming, and a "Membership On Us" program that converts single-ticket buyers into annual members. It also operates the Border Wall Preservation Project, The Homeward Project, and free virtual resources for remote audiences. Affiliates include the Smithsonian Institution, American Alliance of Museums, Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, and the San Diego Museum Council.

Revenue is generated across four streams: admission ticketing ($19.95 adult / $16.95 reduced), an annual membership program that recurs from automatic conversion, event hosting and venue rentals (weddings, anniversaries, quinceañeras, memorials, private proposals), and donations and grants from individuals, foundations, corporate sponsors, the City of San Diego, the San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, and multiple Kumeyaay tribal nations. Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer through walk-in traffic, online ticketing via Blackbaud, the Balboa Park Explorer Pass, the San Diego Public Library Discover & Go Pass, group sales, and direct event bookings. Leadership comprises a CEO with Ph.D. and J.D. credentials (Micah Parzen, tenure concluding after 16 years), an Executive Director (Erin Spiewak), and a specialist senior team covering cultural resources, decolonizing initiatives, exhibits, operations, development, and finance.

Name

Museum of Us

Legal name

Museum of Us

Website

https://museumofus.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1915

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Museum of Us is a 501(c)(3) anthropology museum in San Diego's Balboa Park, founded in 1915, serving visitors through exhibits on human culture and identity, California Tower tours, event venue rentals, and educational programs for schools, families, tourists, and Indigenous communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

History Museums (THAJADAB)

Keywords

• Anthropology museum
• Cultural exhibits
• Museum education
• Heritage preservation
• Community museum

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel

Revenue model

1. Admission Tickets: Revenue from daily admission fees for adults, seniors, military, students, and youth visitors to the museum and California Tower tours.
2. Membership Program: Annual membership program offering unlimited visits for the price of admission, providing recurring revenue from members.
3. Event Hosting & Venue Rentals: Revenue from hosting events in the Saint Francis Chapel and California Tower, including weddings, anniversaries, quinceañearas, memorials, and private proposal packages.
4. Donations & Grants: Financial support from individual donors, foundations, government agencies, and corporate sponsors including City of San Diego, San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, and various tribal partners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Museum of Us operates a single-site cultural anthropology museum in San Diego's Balboa Park, offering immersive exhibits (such as Race: Power, Resistance & Change, PostSecret, Cannibals: Myth & Reality, and Kumeyaay: Native Californians), guided California Tower tours, event venue rentals at the Saint Francis Chapel and California Tower, an annual Membership On Us program, school and group educational programs, and free virtual resources for remote audiences. All offerings support the museum's mission of inspiring human connections by exploring the human experience.

Product overview

The Museum of Us operates as a single-site cultural anthropology museum located in San Diego's Balboa Park. The institution offers a unified portfolio of experiences centered around its core exhibits exploring human culture, identity, and history. The main offerings include interactive and immersive exhibits (such as Race: Power, Resistance & Change, PostSecret, Hostile Terrain 94, and Cannibals: Myth & Reality), the California Tower Tours providing panoramic views of San Diego, event venues including the Saint Francis Chapel and Tower Proposal Package, and a Membership On Us program. The museum also provides educational programs and virtual resources for remote engagement. All offerings support the institution's mission of inspiring human connections through exploring the human experience.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• General Museum Admission Daily admission tickets priced at $19.95 for adults and $16.95 for seniors, military, teachers, students, and youth (6-17); children 5 and under enter free. Each paid admission includes a complimentary year of Membership On Us and access to Cannibals: Myth & Reality across the plaza.
• California Tower Tours Guided tours of the historic California Tower offering 360-degree views of San Diego from the eighth-floor viewing deck, priced at $10 per person on top of admission or active membership.
• Race: Power, Resistance & Change Exhibit Bilingual exhibition presenting stories and lived experiences showing how the construction of race has shaped laws, institutions, and daily life in San Diego and the broader multinational region.
• hapa.me – 25 Years of The Hapa Project Photographic portraits by artist and author Kip Fulbeck reflecting on identity and the experience of mixed ethnicity.
• Hostile Terrain 94 Exhibit An exhibit developed in collaboration with the Undocumented Migration Project, presenting decades of border policies and the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Balboa Park Cultural PartnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership with 28 arts and culture institutions in Balboa Park. The museum's CEO served as board chair of this partnership from 2020 to 2024, indicating deep strategic integration.
• Smithsonian Institution (Affiliate)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial Smithsonian Affiliate designation, providing access to Smithsonian resources, traveling exhibitions, and institutional credibility in the museum field.
• American Alliance of MuseumsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe museum's CEO was elected to the Board of Directors for the American Alliance of Museums in 2026, representing the only organization for the entire museum field in the United States.
• San Diego Museum CouncilcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMember of San Diego Museum Council, collaborating on regional museum promotion including San Diego Museum Month and Explorer Pass programs.
• International Coalition of Sites of ConsciencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of coalition of sites that confront history and memory, supporting the museum's mission around truth-telling and accountability.
• Charity NavigatorcoreOthersNonprofit evaluator providing 4-star ratings demonstrating the museum's financial health, accountability, and transparency standards.
• Kumeyaay NationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndigenous homeland community on whose ancestral land the museum sits. Kumeyaay peoples have lived on this land for millennia and continue to care for and maintain connection to this ancestral homeland. Deep partnership includes repatriation work and decolonization initiatives.
• Kumeyaay Community CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational partner providing expertise and collaboration on Indigenous education and cultural programming.
• Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation CommitteeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey partner in repatriation efforts for cultural resources and ancestral remains. Collaboration with National Park Service NAGPRA Consultation Grant.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• San Diego Natural History Museum: Co-located in Balboa Park with the Museum of Us, this is a similarly sized natural history and cultural institution with overlapping school-group, family, and tourist audiences. Comparable mid-sized museum economics, similar Balboa Park co-marketing programs, and similar donor/foundation funding base.
• San Diego Museum of Art: The other flagship cultural institution in Balboa Park, sharing the California Plaza complex. Directly comparable on visitor demographics, membership program structure, school-group offerings, and San Diego tourism positioning.
• Reuben H. Fleet Science Center: Adjacent Balboa Park science museum serving families and school groups, sharing the same Balboa Park Explorer Pass and San Diego Museum Month co-marketing programs. Comparable in scale and visitor profile.
• San Diego Air & Space Museum: Balboa Park counterpart focused on aviation and space, sharing foot traffic, school group programs, and ticketed exhibitions with the Museum of Us. Directly comparable in physical footprint and family-tourist audience.
• San Diego History Center: San Diego-based cultural and historical institution with overlapping focus on regional history and identity, similar family and tourist audience, and similar reliance on donations, memberships, and earned admissions.
• Japanese American National Museum: National museum focused on Japanese American history and identity with strong decolonization, social justice, and community-accountability framing — directly paralleling the Museum of Us's transformation agenda. Comparable in size and mission-driven positioning.
• Museum of the African Diaspora: San Francisco museum focused on African diaspora culture and identity, with explicit anti-racism and community-voice programming analogous to the Museum of Us. Similar in scale, nonprofit funding model, and audience positioning.
• Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology: University-affiliated anthropology museum with a comparable focus on cultural resources, ethnographic collections, and Indigenous community engagement. Closest direct peer in terms of subject matter (anthropology) and collection-driven operating model.

Broad incumbents

• National Museum of the American Indian: Smithsonian museum directly relevant to the Museum of Us's Indigenous-focused repatriation work, decolonization agenda, and NAGPRA compliance programs. Operates as a broader incumbent in the same Indigenous cultural heritage space, with a national scope and substantially larger budget.
• The Field Museum: Major anthropology and natural history museum in Chicago with deep ethnographic collections, comparable to the Museum of Us's cultural-resources stewardship scope. Operates as a broader incumbent in the same anthropology museum category, but at substantially greater scale and budget.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/museumofus
• Facebookfacebook.com/museumofallofus
• Instagraminstagram.com/museumofallofus
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museumofus

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Museum of Us