Texas · Nonprofit
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC (Texas) receives grants from 116 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,270,884 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($7,692,579). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 116
- Grants received
- $32M
- Net assets
- $60M
What Children's Museum Inc does
Mission
The museum transforms communities through innovative, child-centered learning by providing evidence-based parenting, literacy and stem (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs and exhibits.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Museum employs credentialled educators who manage thirteen bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibit galleries, an on-site branch of the Houston Public Library, and programming that changes weekly. These exhibits/programs are focused on the development of literacy and engagement in hands-on, inquiry-based investigations of science, technology, engineering, and math (i.e., the STEM disciplines). The museum served 658,000 visitors. Over one-third of the visitors receive free admission via weekly free family nights and the open doors free museum admission passes distributed to low-income families by community-based partners at 1,060+ locations across Greater Houston.
$10,970,433 spent$5,072,796 earned by the program85% of program spendingCommunity outreach programs serving low-income families in under-resourced neighborhoods include a) programs that increase the quality of experiential learning opportunities for children participating in after school centers and summer camps; and b) programs that equip parents to engage their children in learning at home using inexpensive and readily available supplies. In FY25, these programs achieved attendance of 136,836 through outreach at 333 locations across Greater Houston. All programing is provided free of charge to participants in collaboration with partners that include Title I schools, afterschool centers, community centers, healthcare clinics, low-income housing apartments, library branches and faith-based organizations.
$1,681,307 spent13% of program spendingVisitor services including facilitation of exhibits and programs, volunteers, service support, and conveniences including parking.
$299,307 spent$1,042,801 earned by the program2% of program spendingThe Gift Shop - The Gift Shop sells an array of unique, educational toys and games for children aged birth to 12 years old. Merchandise sold includes stimulating science and math products that are related to the visitor's experience in the Museum. Many items are used in the exhibits and programs throughout the Museum. All products relate to the Museum's exhibits and programs. The Cafe - The Cafe offers nutritious food for any time of the day so visitors can enjoy a healthy and affordable meal without having to leave the Museum. S.E.C.R.E.T - A fee-based interactive experience designed to take a child's (8 and over) museum experience to the next level. Using state-of-the art technology, kids report to duty and are assigned a S.E.C.R.E.T. mission. The museum combines radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with hands-on educational elements that encourage problem solving, critical thinking, data analysis, programming and teamwork which helps the visitor to solve puzzles, discover hidden agendas and thwart the villains' schemes.
$-136,020 earned by the program
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,951,047.
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 2022 to 2023, from $44M to $54M (+23%).
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 1% · 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 10% · 2021 18% · 2022 35% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC’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. 5 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
Rayanne Darensbourg
Chief Executive Officer
Board chair
Jonathan Sloan
Board president
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 31 funders to 55 funders, grant income rose $1.6M → $3.6M.
17 of 116 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 116 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
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
37% 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 CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 15% · 2018 23% · 2019 16% · 2020 12% · 2021 13% · 2022 41% · 2023 17% — broadly stable.
“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
47% of CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
69% of CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC 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 CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $208k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$208k
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 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 Texas
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
75%
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
- Fort Bend Children's Discovery Center · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 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 CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC?
- CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC (Texas) receives grants from 116 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,270,884 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($7,692,579). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 116 organizations giving $32,270,884 in grants to CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC, 75 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $7,692,579 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC 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 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 116 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