Ohio · Nonprofit
Akron Fossils and Science Center
Akron Fossils and Science Center (Ohio) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,207 to it, the largest being SAMUEL REESE WILLIS FOUNDATION INC ($20,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $288k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $22k
- Net assets
- $124k
What Akron Fossils and Science Center does
Mission
Akron Fossils & Science Center exists to provide visitors of all ages with balanced, affordable, and hands-on educational oppotunities to explore the science of the world past, present, and future. One segment of our center explores creation science education.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
All other educational programs. This can include guest lecturers, who are leading scientists in their field. The center also hosts birthday parties for children which are science based including Jungle Jamboree, Getting Dusty Digging for Dinos, Amazing Astronomy, and Wacky Mad Science. The center hosted 480 children at birthday parties in 2024. We also offer overnight lock-ins and adventure trips.
$49,326 spent$7,916 earned by the program29% of program spendingWe offer science classes primarily for homeschool groups in biology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and botany. These classes meet once a week for 28 weeks for students in K-12th grade. Particiants can pick individual classes or enroll in multiple classes for an all day bundle. We also offer custom group classes and family classes as well. 105 students were enrolled in our science classes in 2024.
$46,512 spent$80,896 earned by the program28% of program spendingWe provide summer hands-on science camps for children in K-8th grade. These include dinosaur adventure camp, wacky science camp, space exploration camp, creature feature camp, crime scene investigator camp, and STEAM (exciting electricity) camp. 265 children were enrolled in our camps in 2024.
$36,263 spent$80,564 earned by the program22% of program spendingOur science center provides guests with hands-on guided tours and science activities. We have exhibits that display fossils, and visitors can hold real fossils, as well as make and take home replicas. We also have live animals that can also be touched and held. We have a 4500 sq ft museum and 2 acre outdoor adventure park. Our creation science museum is dedicated to comparing and contrasting scientific models like intelligent design and evolution on the origin of the universe, and catastrophism and uniformitarianism modesl on the geologic record. Multiple views on the topics are provided. 5,425 people attended our science center and museum in 2024.
$35,625 spent$51,037 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $167,726.
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 2018 to 2019, from $50k to $85k (+68%).
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: 2021 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
22% of Akron Fossils and Science Center’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (79% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Jodie L Brewer
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $5k → $1k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 Akron Fossils and Science Center’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
Akron Fossils and Science Center leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 82% · 2022 100% · 2023 95% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of Akron Fossils and Science Center's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $207 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Akron Fossils and Science Center has grown faster than half of the 793 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Akron Fossils and Science 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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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 Akron Fossils and Science 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 Akron Fossils and Science Center?
- Akron Fossils and Science Center (Ohio) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,207 to it, the largest being SAMUEL REESE WILLIS FOUNDATION INC ($20,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Akron Fossils and Science Center have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $22,207 in grants to Akron Fossils and Science Center, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Akron Fossils and Science Center?
- SAMUEL REESE WILLIS FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $20,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Akron Fossils and Science Center find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Akron Fossils and Science Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 3 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