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New York · Nonprofit

ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC

ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC (New York) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $156,125 to it, the largest being ADIRONDACK FOUNDATION ($56,176). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$186k
Funders on record
13
Grants received
$156k
Net assets
$715k
7/13 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 18%
01What it does

What Adirondack Public Observatory Inc does

Mission

Provide quality educational experiences for people of all ages through the science, technology, and history of astronomy. Encourage and support amateur astronomers of all generations yound and old.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Enhance public awareness and advance the science of astronomy.integrate with area schools, colleges, and universities.encourage and support amateur astronomers of all generations young and old.

    $87,333 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $87,333.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($134k) Expenses 100 ($78k) Net assets 100 ($524k)2021 Revenue 84 ($113k) Expenses 166 ($130k) Net assets 101 ($528k)2022 Revenue 109 ($146k) Expenses 122 ($95k) Net assets 110 ($576k)2023 Revenue 166 ($223k) Expenses 142 ($110k) Net assets 131 ($689k)2024 Revenue 139 ($186k) Expenses 209 ($163k) Net assets 136 ($715k)
20202021202220232024
Revenue (139)Expenses (209)Net assets (136)Peer revenue range

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 $578k to $690k (+19%).

$524k
$529k
$578k
$690k
$716k
20202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 15% · 2021 11% · 2022 8% · 2023 37% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

87% of ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (79% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 882 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$56k
’20
−$17k
’21
$51k
’22
$112k
’23
$23k
’24
12
months of
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.

20202021202220232024
Listed2021202119
Joined·+4+1+1+0
No longer listed·3202
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $9k → $18k.

5 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 36% 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

62% 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 ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC.

36%
largest funder
59%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 56% · 2019 83% · 2020 73% · 2021 62% · 2022 51% · 2023 55% — 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

33% of ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

62% of ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $59k that is directly attributable, 52% of it comes from New York funders.

NY
PA
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $98k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 793 science & tech nonprofits its size.

Operating margin12% · above the median
Months of reserve12.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Government funding ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.

Federal$25k
grants $25kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$25k

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 ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC

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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

55% of spending goes to programs.

Program 55%Management 43%Fundraising 1%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

95%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC: 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.

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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 ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC?
ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC (New York) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $156,125 to it, the largest being ADIRONDACK FOUNDATION ($56,176). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC have?
IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $156,125 in grants to ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC?
ADIRONDACK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $56,176 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ADIRONDACK PUBLIC OBSERVATORY INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Adirondack Public Observatory →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 13 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