Texas · Nonprofit
AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM (Texas) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,295,489 to it, the largest being AUSTIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($1,357,620). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 58
- Grants received
- $6.3M
- Net assets
- $4.5M
What Austin Children's Museum does
Mission
Acm leads the future of play-based steam learning experiences that inspire and equip all children to be confident, creative thinkers
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Provide innovative, hands-on, play-based experiences through steam-focused exhibits and educational experiences for children, their caregivers, and educators through acm's museum space.
$2,577,335 spent$2,492,818 earned by the program40% of program spendingProvide educational, play-based steam learning experiences to children and their caregivers through out-of-school-time programming and increase kindergarten readiness through an onsite preschool. During the fiscal year, thinkery discontinued its little thinkers preschool program due to declining enrollment and financial sustainability concerns. The decision allowed the organization to redirect resources toward its core mission of providing steam learning experiences for children and families.
$3,764,532 spent$1,531,343 earned by the program58% of program spendingOperate a museum store to encourage children to explore and learn on their own.
$99,321 spent$56,918 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,441,188.
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 2019 to 2020, from $17M to $4.2M (−76%).
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: 2017 5% · 2018 5% · 2019 6% · 2020 2% · 2021 4% · 2022 27% · 2023 2% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
36% of AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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
Andrew Bell
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $597k → $1.6M.
17 of 58 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 58 funders by total. 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
AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
51% 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 AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 36% · 2019 32% · 2020 31% · 2021 50% · 2022 38% · 2023 30% — 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
39% of AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% give in more than one year at all.
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
65% of AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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.
Against its field
AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's funding base is broadening — from 11 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $265k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$245k
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Austin Children's Museum Holdings Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: 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 AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM?
- AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM (Texas) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,295,489 to it, the largest being AUSTIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($1,357,620). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 58 organizations giving $6,295,489 in grants to AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM?
- AUSTIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,357,620 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AUSTIN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Austin Children's Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 58 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing