New York · Nonprofit
BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION
BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION (New York) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,700,873 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($2,600,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 64
- Grants received
- $6.7M
- Net assets
- $7.1M
What Brooklyn Children's Museum Corporation does
Mission
Creates experiences that ignite curiosity, celebrate identity & cultivate joyful learning.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
During fy 2025, the museum did not undertake any significant new program services or exhibits that were not listed on the prior return. Instead, the museum focused on enhancing and expanding programming within existing exhibit and program spaces. This included increased and more frequent facilitated programming throughout the week across the museum, with particular emphasis on strengthening engagement within the nature's engineers stem makerspace, the colorlab art and stem space, and other core exhibit areas. These enhancements deepened visitor engagement and learning outcomes while remaining consistent with the museum's established mission and program structure.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Maintenance & security:in order to support its programmatic activities and serve the community, brooklyn children's museum maintains a 125,000 square foot facility. Maintenance and facilities staff oversee safety, cleanliness, building operations, and repairs necessary to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for visitors, staff, and program participants. Facilities staff are represented by municipal union dc 37.
$1,808,236 spent30% of program spendingEducation:the museum's education programs served approximately 30,000 students and chaperones during fiscal year 2025 through approximately 1,100 school field trips and school-based visits. The museum also provided free afterschool and summer camp programming for approximately 145 children from central brooklyn families. These programs are designed to support curriculum-aligned learning, social development, and creative exploration through hands-on, museum-based experiences. A small teen engagement program served approximately 100 participants during the year and was concluded during the fiscal year.
$1,795,685 spent$525,047 earned by the program30% of program spendingExhibit:in fiscal year 2025, brooklyn children's museum served over 275,000 visitors through general admissions and exhibit-based programming. This represents a modest increase from approximately 270,000 visitors served in fiscal year 2024 and a significant increase from approximately 240,000 visitors served in fiscal year 2023. The museum's permanent exhibits include world brooklyn, a recreated street featuring child-size replicas of real brooklyn stores; neighborhood nature, an exploration of brooklyn's ecosystems; collections central, which highlights objects from the museum's collection through rotating themed exhibitions; totally tots, an early childhood sensory learning space; and colorlab, a hands-on art and stem-focused studio highlighting black art and artists.during fiscal year 2025, the museum presented in the works, a temporary visiting exhibition centered on construction, collaboration, and creative problem solving, where children engaged in hands-on building activities using real tools and materials in a supervised environment. In addition to exhibit-based experiences, the museum expanded public programming throughout the week, including special events celebrating…
$1,040,910 spent$17,500 earned by the program17% of program spendingOther programmatic functions include collections, visitor services, development, membership, marketing, and government and community affairs, which collectively support the museum's exempt purpose and core operations.
$1,348,264 spent$1,151,289 earned by the program22% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,993,095.
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 2024 to 2025, from $7.5M to $11M (+48%).
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 51% · 2018 44% · 2019 53% · 2020 62% · 2021 70% · 2022 57% · 2023 52% · 2024 49% · 2025 37%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Atiba Edwards
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $155k → $732k.
13 of 64 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 64 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
BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 39% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 39% · 2019 34% · 2020 18% · 2021 24% · 2022 20% · 2023 21% — 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
60% of BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION draws 57% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.4M on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.2M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$953k
- National Endowment for the Arts$249k
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 BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION: 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 BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION?
- BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION (New York) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,700,873 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($2,600,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION have?
- IRS filings report 64 organizations giving $6,700,873 in grants to BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION 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 Brooklyn 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 64 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