Virginia · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM
FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $512 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($462). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $49k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $512
- Net assets
- $155k
What Friends of Arlington's David M Brown Planetarium does
Mission
The purpose for which the organization is organized is to support the renovation and continued use of arlington's david m brown planetarium, to promote awareness and community use of the facility, and provide grants and scholarships to fund stem education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Funding the david m. Brown scholarship. This program wasestablished in 2012 and is administered by the arlingtoncommunity foundation. The first scholarship was awarded in 2013. The board of directors approved increasing the scholarship amount funded to $9,000 beginning with scholarships awarded in 2025. New scholarships are for $2,250 to be awarded annually for up to four years. Existing scholarships remained at $2,000 to be awarded for up to four years. In scholarship funding to the arlington community foundation with which the friends has an agreement to administer the scholarship.funding teacher grants. The friends established a grants for teachersprogram in 2015, which provides small grants (up to $500 each) to arlington public schools (aps) teachers to assist them in obtaining training in stem teaching. The program is jointly administered by aps and the friends. During 2025, the friends provided $6,454 in teacher grants.
$21,517 spentof which $9,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $21,517.
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 2017 to 2018, from $56k to $87k (+57%).
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.
63% of FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $101 → $110.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM’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
FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
90% 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 FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 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
90% of FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM'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 $50 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $462 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,195 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
95%
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 FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM: 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 FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM?
- FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $512 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($462). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $512 in grants to FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM?
- AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $462 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF ARLINGTON'S DAVID M BROWN PLANETARIUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 Friends of Arlington's David M Brown Planetarium →
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 2 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