Ohio · Nonprofit
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (Ohio) receives grants from 170 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,094,087 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($4,301,500). 126 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $32M
- Funders on record
- 170
- Grants received
- $34M
- Net assets
- $341M
What Cleveland Museum of Natural History does
Mission
To inspire, through science and education, a passion for nature, the protection of natural diversity, the fostering of health, and leadership to a sustainable future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Division of research and collections: a total of 150 new specimens were accessioned to collections, 102 requests by external researchers were fulfilled, 14 behind the scenes tours, and 292 public inquiries were fielded. The research staff published 6 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Published scientific studies include paleontology, investigations into early hominin behavior, and tool use as they relate to human evolution. Field research was conducted in kenya, new mexico, northern ohio, and the great lakes region, all of which advance the research endeavors of the museum's scientific program. The division staff participated in public programs that resulted in more than 2,151 direct interactions with the public, over 82 media interviews/appearances, and around 1,459 individuals reached in academic presentations.
$9,850,703 spent$2,100,255 earned by the program60% of program spendingExhibits: the museum continued to display jane the t. Rex at the cleveland hopkins international airport.the temporary exhibits "finding lucy and "discovering dunkleosteus" were deinstalled in visitor hall and corning gallery in march. 2025.the museum presented the "wildlife photographer of the year" exhibit on loan from the natural history museum in london starting in april, 2025. This exhibit was shown in corning gallery, the visitor hall, and the education hallway.objects were installed in five cases in the planetarium, including "cosmo" the meteorite.the remainder of the museum opened in december, 2024, which includes two new wings (sear dynamic earth wing and teh evolving life wing) and two additional galleries (ames curiousity center and the natural areas gallery).
$4,427,151 spent$759,518 earned by the program27% of program spendingEducation: the museum offers unique learning opportunities including hands-on workshops, gallery displays, health programs, planetarium shows, live animal programs and self-conducted exhibits, outreach and award winning interactive videoconferencing programs. The museum provided on-site school programs for 18,951 students and delivered outreach programs to 4,721 students and teachers during fiscal year 2025. The museum was also able to engage 4,684 students and teachers from 7 states and 2 countries via the interactive videoconferencing studios. Overall, we reached 36,269 students and teachers through our educational programming with 21,275 of them from title I schools in fy25 (almost 60%).
$2,018,325 spent$590,183 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,296,179.
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 2020 to 2021, from $257M to $389M (+51%).
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 22% · 2018 24% · 2019 4% · 2020 7% · 2021 9% · 2022 11% · 2023 13% · 2024 12% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY’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. 2 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.
Board chair
Susan Donlan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 53 funders to 88 funders, grant income rose $2.6M → $6.7M.
19 of 170 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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: $12M from 11 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Cleveland Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY raised.
From the IRS filings of CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 170 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
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
32% 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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 18% · 2019 17% · 2020 10% · 2021 18% · 2022 33% · 2023 17% — 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
57% of CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
79% of CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M 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
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.3M on record.
- National Science Foundation$1.8M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$820k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$350k
- Department of Agriculture$266k
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$40k
- Department of the Interior$23k
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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
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
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: 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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY?
- CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (Ohio) receives grants from 170 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,094,087 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($4,301,500). 126 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY have?
- IRS filings report 170 organizations giving $34,094,087 in grants to CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 126 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $4,301,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 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 Cleveland Museum of Natural History →
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 170 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