Indiana · Nonprofit
Conner Prairie Museum Inc
Conner Prairie Museum Inc (Indiana) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,582,310 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($14,182,265). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $36M
- Net assets
- $6.2M
What Conner Prairie Museum Inc does
Mission
Conner Prairie is a unique historic place that inspires curiosity and fosters learning by providing engaging and individualized experiences for everyone.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Historic museum experience: conner prairie is a unique historic place that inspires curiosity and fosters learning by providing engaging and individualized experiences for everyone. The museum strives to cultivate inquisitive, lifelong learners who possess the intellectual curiosity that will enable them to address the significant challenges facing our nation. Conner prairie's market is composed of a diverse mix of audiences, from urban school visitors to suburban, three-generational family groups. However, the market can be categorized into four broadly defined overlapping groups: 1) visitors from local and regional communities, 2) school groups from the state of indiana, 3) tourists, and 4) a world-wide community of scholars and learners, who not only visit the museum in-person, but also gain understanding, knowledge and appreciation for the museum and its programs through the museum's website. (continued in schedule o)
$14,436,418 spentof which $2,779,959 as grants$1,975,931 earned by the program95% of program spendingConner prairie museum, inc. Provides various classes, camps, educational programs and workshops. Education programs include general school tours, guided programs for schools and tour groups, and science programming. Classes and workshops include historic crafts/trades including blacksmithing, arms making, textiles, and pottery. Annual summer day camps center on outdoor exploration, the arts and other stem topics. Scout programs include badge workshops. Admission programs include special events and activities that are offered on a daily basis as part of the admission price. Public programs include headless horseman, hearthside suppers, a merry prairie holiday, history on tap and jupiter flights balloon festival.
$758,674 spent$3,204,878 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,195,092.
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 $7.0M to $12M (+64%).
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 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 14% · 2021 25% · 2022 4% · 2023 1% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of Conner Prairie 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. 1 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
Norman O Burns II
President & CEO
Board chair
Steve Hageman
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $136k → $4.0M.
12 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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: $40M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Conner Prairie Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Conner Prairie Museum Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Conner Prairie Museum Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 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
Conner Prairie Museum Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 35% · 2019 55% · 2020 72% · 2021 25% · 2022 83% · 2023 67% — growing more concentrated.
“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
63% of Conner Prairie Museum Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
97% of Conner Prairie Museum Inc's grant income comes from Indiana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.7M 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
Conner Prairie Museum Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Conner Prairie Museum Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $425k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$425k
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 Conner Prairie 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 Indiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
39%
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 3 related entities
- 1859 Balloon Voyage LLC · disregarded
- CP Property Holdings LLC · disregarded
- Conner Prairie Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Conner Prairie 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 Conner Prairie Museum Inc?
- Conner Prairie Museum Inc (Indiana) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,582,310 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($14,182,265). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Conner Prairie Museum Inc have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $35,582,310 in grants to Conner Prairie Museum Inc, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Conner Prairie Museum Inc?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $14,182,265 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Conner Prairie Museum Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. 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 65 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