Wisconsin · Nonprofit
BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC
BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,223,801 to it, the largest being RICHARD AND ETHEL HERZFELD FOUNDATION INC ($417,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 57
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Betty Brinn Children's Museum Inc does
Mission
The museum inspires all children to wonder and explore their world through play and innovative, hands-on learning experiences.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Museum experience - includes all aspects of visiting the museum, exhibits, hands-on educational programming, field trips, and special events.
$986,515 spent$1,163,152 earned by the program52% of program spendingOutreach - provides free admission and memberships, transportation/parking, and hands-on educational opportunities to the community as well as free educational programming out in the community.
$424,130 spent22% of program spendingEducational initiatives - these programs and events enhance efforts to expand our "learning-by-doing" mission to the entire community.
$274,214 spent14% of program spendingExhibit development - includes creation, fabrication, and maintenance of exhibits that are part of the exhibit rental and sales program to other venues. Rental exhibits are displayed on the museum floor on a rotating basis and enhance the museum experience.
$218,693 spent$265,088 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,903,552.
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 $4.1M to $2.7M (−35%).
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: 2020 27% · 2021 43% · 2022 0% · 2023 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC’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 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
Tina Quealy
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $214k → $331k.
13 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $406k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Betty Brinn Children's Museum Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC raised.
From the IRS filings of BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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
BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
26% 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 BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 27% · 2019 44% · 2020 20% · 2021 22% · 2022 18% · 2023 16% — 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
42% of BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
99% of BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $517k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC is better cushioned than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% 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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Betty Brinn Children's Museum Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM 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.
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 BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC?
- BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,223,801 to it, the largest being RICHARD AND ETHEL HERZFELD FOUNDATION INC ($417,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $2,223,801 in grants to BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC?
- RICHARD AND ETHEL HERZFELD FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $417,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BETTY BRINN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 57 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