Minnesota · Nonprofit
GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM
GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM (Minnesota) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,621,324 to it, the largest being COMMUNITYGIVING ($2,664,376). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $5.6M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Great River Childrens Museum does
Mission
Great river children's museum (grcm) shines a bright light on the power of play to spark children's learning, strengthen families, and build community connections. Its dynamic, interactive environments and experiences are a gateway to the world and its people for children and families of all backgrounds.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
In june of 2025, great river children's museum (grcm) opened its doors to a museum filled with 8 interactive exhibit areas covering 31,000 square feet of exhibit space.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
In june of 2025, great river children's museum (grcm) opened its doors to a museum filled with 8 interactive exhibit areas covering 31,000 square feet of exhibit space. Grcm welcomed over 52,000 visitors from across 41 states with the focus of bringing kids and families together to play, spark learning, building community connections, and strengthen family bonds. Great river children's museum is in its first year of operations and has taken an intentional approach to providing pathways to access to the museum for families and all of central minnesota's pre-k, elementary, homeschool, private school, and childcare groups. Donations to great river children's museum provide a path to play through various channels including: discounted admission, discounted field trips, discounted membership, and the development of needed programs. Grcm began hosting programs and events for the community and piloted 9 field trips in 2025. There are a total of 61 field trips booked, over 4,000 students, for the 2025-2026 school year.great river children's museum offers a $5 ticket to individuals who are receiving wic or snap benefits and welcomed nearly 7,000 people in at the $5 ticket price in 2025.…
$1,535,032 spent$562,533 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,535,032.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $11M to $17M (+54%).
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: 2024 71% · 2025 75%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS 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. 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
Cassie Miles
CEO
Board chair
Glen Palm
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $168k → $1.7M.
3 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 17 of 18 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
GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
55% 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 GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 80% · 2020 52% · 2021 52% · 2022 81% · 2023 68% — 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
25% of GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
98% of GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
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 GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS 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 GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM?
- GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM (Minnesota) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,621,324 to it, the largest being COMMUNITYGIVING ($2,664,376). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $5,621,324 in grants to GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM?
- COMMUNITYGIVING is the largest funder on record, with $2,664,376 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Great River Childrens Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 18 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