North Dakota · Nonprofit
FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM
FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM (North Dakota) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,647,395 to it, the largest being FARGO-MOORHEAD AREA FOUNDATION CORPORATION ($1,066,793). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.4M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What Fargo-Moorhead Science Museum does
Mission
Breaking barriers to ignite the curiosity in all of us.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Fargo-Moorhead Science Museum outreach program provides free educational programming to the fm region which ignites curiosity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (stemm). Fmsm engages with community members at admission-free public events at libraries and parks and targets underserved communities through mobile stemm outreach. In 2023, fmsm provided eighty hours of stemm programming across 17 community events to 2,841 community members. These efforts were supported by eight dedicated volunteers committed to bringing free stemm outreach to area events. Our programs provide opportunities for hands-on interactions with real science which makes scientific concepts concrete for participants and can create life-long enthusiasm for science. Fmsm staff and volunteers spent hundreds of hours continuing to build the framework for the capital campaign and cultivating relationships with community stakeholders and donors. The fmsm education committee worked with gyroscope inc. To finalize the visitor experience plan. The organization received a $500,000 grant from the state of north dakota to support operational costs during this planning and construction phase.…
$315,968 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $315,968.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $781k to $5.8M (+640%).
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: 2023 82%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $17k → $50k.
5 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 82% 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 FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 81% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
81% of FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $305k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from North Dakota funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM
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 North Dakota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
54% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
20%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM: 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 FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM?
- FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM (North Dakota) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,647,395 to it, the largest being FARGO-MOORHEAD AREA FOUNDATION CORPORATION ($1,066,793). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $1,647,395 in grants to FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM?
- FARGO-MOORHEAD AREA FOUNDATION CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,066,793 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FARGO-MOORHEAD SCIENCE MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Dakota. 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 Fargo-Moorhead Science Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 7 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