National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial

What National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial does

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial is a 501c3 non-profit cultural institution founded in 2004 and located at 2831 West Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It operates as the only museum and memorial outside of Cambodia dedicated to preserving the history of the Khmer Rouge genocide (1975-1979), in which over 2 million Cambodians perished, and to documenting the Cambodian American refugee experience. The museum serves the Cambodian American community in Chicago, genocide survivors and their families, students and educators from partner schools, and the general public interested in cultural heritage and social justice.

The organization's core offering is built on the Living Museum Model, a conceptual framework developed in 2015 that organizes programming around four pillars — Justice, Voice, Healing, and Future. Core products include the permanent 'Remembering the Killing Fields' exhibition, the Wall of Remembrance memorial featuring names etched on glass panels, and the Culture & Healing Arts program that uses dance, music, spoken word, photography, and creative writing as therapeutic engagement for survivors. Supporting services include Khmer language, dance, and music classes taught by master artists across fall, winter, and spring terms; guided museum and group tours ($6 adult/$4 student); youth leadership through the Khmer Support Giving Circle (KSGC); and an annual Day of Remembrance event.

Revenue is generated through a diversified non-profit model combining individual donations and grants (including from Henry J. Luce Foundation, Bank One/JPMorgan Chase, and IFF), membership tiers ($20-$75 annually), program fees for cultural classes ($85-$115 per term), event ticket sales, and fundraising events such as the Healing Arts Luncheon. Free admission is provided to Cambodian genocide survivors aged 40 and over. The museum operates from a single physical location in Chicago with regional reach through partnerships with Alliance Française de Chicago, Asian Pop-Up Cinema, Victory Gardens Theater, Northern Illinois University, and other cultural institutions, plus global access via a Google StreetView virtual tour and YouTube Live-streamed events. In 2025, the museum marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh with a series of expanded commemorative events, having reached 3,300+ people across 14 schools and universities through 52 artist collaborations.

Name

National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial

Legal name

National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial

Website

https://cambodianmuseum.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial is a Chicago-based 501c3 non-profit founded in 2004 that serves as the only museum outside Cambodia dedicated to the Khmer Rouge genocide. It provides exhibitions, memorialization, Khmer cultural classes, and arts-based healing programs to the Cambodian American community, students, and survivors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Museum & Memorial

NAICS

Museums (712110), Historical Sites (71212), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

History Museums (THAJADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI), Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage preservation
• Genocide education memorial
• Museum exhibitions tours
• Khmer cultural classes
• Community healing arts

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Contributions: Individual donations and financial support from donors. The museum relies on grants, program fees, membership, and financial support from supporters.
2. Program Revenue: Tuition fees from cultural classes (Khmer dance, music, language), workshop fees, and class registrations.
3. Event Revenue: Ticket sales and fundraising events including virtual fundraisers, film screenings, performances, and special events.
4. Membership Fees: Annual membership tiers including Individual ($50), Student/Educator ($20), and Family ($75).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial operates as a museum and memorial that houses images, descriptive accounts, artifacts, and interactive media displays documenting the Cambodian genocide. It offers guided tours, cultural education programs (Khmer dance, music, and language classes), healing arts services, and youth leadership initiatives for the Cambodian American community and the general public.

Product overview

The National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial is a cultural heritage organization operating as a single unified museum and memorial institution in Chicago. The core products include the Living Museum Model (a conceptual framework for community engagement), the permanent 'Remembering the Killing Fields' exhibition, the Wall of Remembrance memorial, and Culture & Healing Arts programs. Supporting services include Khmer music, dance, and language classes taught by master artists, guided museum tours, and an annual Day of Remembrance event. The organization also offers youth mentorship through the Khmer Support Giving Circle (KSGC) program. Membership programs provide tiered access to the museum's resources and educational offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Remembering the Killing Fields Exhibition
• Wall of Remembrance
• Living Museum Model Program
• Museum & Memorial Tours
• Khmer Dance Classes
• Khmer Music Classes
• Khmer Language Classes
• Culture & Healing Arts Program
• Khmer Soul Group of Chicago (KSGC) Youth Leadership & Mentorship
• Annual Museum Membership
• Day of Remembrance Ceremony

Quantifiable outcome

• Reached 3,300+ people annually
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cambodian Association of IllinoiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormal partner organization. The museum is hosted in collaboration with the Cambodian Association of Illinois for events such as the Day of Remembrance. Co-hosts events and collaborates on community programming.
• Alliance Française de ChicagocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-presentation partner for Festival de la Francophonie film screenings and cultural events. Jointly presents events like 'Meeting with Pol Pot' and 'Becoming Human' film screenings.
• Asian Pop-Up CinemacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for the Festival de la Francophonie and Asian cinema programming. Co-presents film screenings including 'Becoming Human' and 'Meeting with Pol Pot'.
• Victory Gardens TheaterminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFundraiser partnership for the production of 'Cambodian Rock Band' play by Lauren Lee. Joint fundraising event hosted at Victory Gardens Theater.
• Crossing Borders MusicminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative music partner. Crossing Borders Music string quartet performed with museum resident artists for the documentary 'The Healing Circle: Songs, Stories, and Friendship'.
• Northern Illinois UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint venture partner for the 'Khmer Spirit: Arts & Culture of Cambodia' exhibit. Representatives from both the museum and university spent three weeks in Cambodia collecting artifacts.
• Center for Southeast Asian Studies at NIUminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner for film screening events. Presented 'LOOT - A Story of Crime and Redemption' documentary screening at Egyptian Theater.
• Khmer Women's NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the 'Women I Admire' essay contest in honor of International Women's Day.
• Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider ArtminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for the 'Behind the Mask: Real Me' workshop as part of Inherit Chicago festival, exploring mask cultures in American-Indian and Cambodian communities.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (Choeung Ek): The Cambodian state-run museum at the former S-21 prison is the in-country counterpart and the primary reference site for the Cambodian genocide. The Chicago museum explicitly positions itself as the only genocide-focused counterpart outside Cambodia, making this the most direct peer by mission, subject, and audience overlap.
• Holocaust Museum Houston: A Texas-based 501c3 focused on Holocaust/genocide education with survivor testimony, school tours, and teacher training. Compares closely on operational mechanics — group tour pricing, survivor free admission, school-partnership scale, and donor-driven sustainability.
• Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience: A Smithsonian-affiliated Asian Pacific American museum in Seattle that combines permanent exhibits, community-driven narratives, and cultural arts programming. Highly comparable hybrid model of heritage preservation, education, and arts-based community engagement.
• Vietnamese Heritage Museum: One of the few U.S. museums dedicated to Vietnamese American and broader Southeast Asian heritage, also serving refugee communities in the U.S. Directly comparable as a Southeast Asian refugee-heritage institution with cultural and educational programming.
• Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA): New York-based ethnic heritage museum preserving Chinese American history through exhibits, oral histories, and cultural programming. Operates an analogous nonprofit model with donated collections, school partnerships, and a focus on diaspora memory and intergenerational storytelling.
• Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center: Located in Skokie near Chicago, the Illinois Holocaust Museum is the most operationally analogous U.S. nonprofit museum — genocide/mass-atrocity education, survivor testimony, school-tour revenue, and trauma-informed programming. Both rely on survivor-driven narratives and tour-based monetization.

Broad incumbents

• Japanese American National Museum: A larger, established heritage museum in Los Angeles focused on Japanese American incarceration and cultural preservation. Comparable as an Asian American diaspora museum using artifacts, oral histories, and educational programming, with overlapping donor and partner networks.
• National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Smithsonian institution addressing slavery, civil rights, and African American community history — the gold standard for diaspora heritage museums. Comparable as a large-scale institutional model for hard-history narrative work and educational impact, though with vastly greater resources.

Others

• Alliance Française de Chicago: A Francophone cultural institution co-presenting film screenings and events with the museum. Adjacent cultural-institution peer in terms of Chicago-area cultural programming model, language-based programming, and donor constituency overlap.
• Cambodian Association of Illinois: The museum's listed host partner, a Chicago-based community services nonprofit for Cambodian Americans. Directly comparable audience and mission (servicing the Cambodian American community in Chicago) and tightly operationally entangled through co-hosted events like the Day of Remembrance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCkUhAjVN-kQMV0qzK7qQVoA
• Facebookfacebook.com/cambodianmuseum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial