Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM
FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,467,521 to it, the largest being READING PUBLIC MUSEUM ENDOWMENT TRUST ($2,785,026). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $5.5M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Foundation for the Reading Public Museum does
Mission
The reading public museum is a dynamic center of lifelong learning that collects, preserves, and interprets objects of art, science, and civilization to engage, educate, and enlighten current and future generations from our diverse communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Program services:admissions and tours - tours are available to pre-k to senior groups, customized to meet the educational needs of the specific group and provided by professionally trained museum personnel. To assist schools in covering the costs of tours, the museum offers a funding program called "feed their imagination" (fti). Through the generous support of donors, the fti program allows groups to visit the museum and planetarium by covering expenses such as admission and bussing costs. This funding program is integral to keeping our education and collection accessible to everyone in our community and bringing students into the museum who otherwise would not have that opportunity. See additional information on schedule o.approximately 30% of tours annually are partially or completely underwritten by the museum's feed their imagination fund. The museum and neag planetarium receive between 60,000 and 100,000 visitors per year. While no official count is kept, annual visits to the museum arboretum and sculpture garden easily exceed 120,000 per year, and likely total multiples of that number. The arboretum, a valuable community resource, is maintained and managed by nearly 150…
$3,390,104 spent$827,705 earned by the program90% of program spendingChildren's programs:sensory events - special programming, among other sensory-inclusive events, designed for individuals with a range of sensory sensitivities who otherwise would not be able to experience and enjoy the museum. Children, families, and caregivers can attend events that are in a quiet, uncrowded environment. See additional information on schedule o.family holiday events - designed for the entire family, these events provide a special place for families to celebrate different holidays. There are usually at least six holiday events each year including easter at the museum, trick or treat at the museum, pictures with santa, and noon year's eve. These programs are a safe space for children to celebrate holidays and receive take-home educational kits and treats.summer camp - museum discovery camp offers ten one-week camp experiences focusing on a different educational component each week. The camps keep children engaged in learning over the summer by exploring each week's focus using the exhibits and collections owned by the museum as well as hands on experiments and crafts. Scout workshops and overnight stays - scout workshops and overnights offer a wide variety of…
$365,128 spent$159,316 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,755,232.
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 $13M to $15M (+15%).
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: 2020 8% · 2021 18% · 2022 4% · 2023 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Dr Anna Weitz
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $493k → $605k.
8 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC 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
FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
73% 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 FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 59% · 2019 76% · 2020 53% · 2021 51% · 2022 48% · 2023 61% — 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
64% of FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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 FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 12 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$1k
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 FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 1 related entity
- Reading Public Museum Endowment Trust · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC 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 FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,467,521 to it, the largest being READING PUBLIC MUSEUM ENDOWMENT TRUST ($2,785,026). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $5,467,521 in grants to FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM?
- READING PUBLIC MUSEUM ENDOWMENT TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $2,785,026 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOUNDATION FOR THE READING PUBLIC MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Foundation for the Reading Public Museum →
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 27 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing