Illinois · Nonprofit
HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $791,247 to it, the largest being Community Foundation of Northern IL ($290,662). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $791k
- Net assets
- $9.4M
What Harry and Della Burpee Museum Association does
Mission
Our mission is to inspire all people to engage in a lifetime of discovery and learning about the natural world, through preservation and interpretation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Museum: burpee museum has 4 floors of exhibits that bring natural science to life for the general public from the earth's early history to present day plants and animals. The museum space consists of permanent exhibits, temporary and traveling exhibits, classrooms, and space devoted to public programs.
$493,063 spent$211,366 earned by the program60% of program spendingEducation: burpee museum education programming is critical to advancing discovery of the natural world. The museum's programming engages the public through school programs, outreaches to daycares and after school programming, public classes, lectures, courses and special one-day programs shaping the communitys knowledge and respect of our earth that is rich with biological and cultural diversity.
$216,681 spent$103,295 earned by the program26% of program spendingResearch: the museum maintains a permanent collection of natural objects and man-made artifacts spanning the museum's disciplines: biology, geology, and anthropology. The museum engages in active research collecting new specimens through local research, as well as 2 major dig sites through the bureau of land management in both utah and montana. Burpee is home to some of the most rare and important fossils in the world, and participates in research with the international community.
$109,634 spent$60,450 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $819,378.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.6M to $11M (+130%).
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 27% · 2018 29% · 2019 35% · 2020 47% · 2021 45% · 2022 17% · 2023 24% · 2024 55%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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.
Chief executive
Anne Weerda
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $84k → $38k.
4 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION’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
HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 46% · 2019 34% · 2020 49% · 2021 57% · 2022 90% · 2023 53% — 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
27% of HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
95% of HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $358k 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
HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION: 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 HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION?
- HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $791,247 to it, the largest being Community Foundation of Northern IL ($290,662). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $791,247 in grants to HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION?
- Community Foundation of Northern IL is the largest funder on record, with $290,662 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Harry and Della Burpee Museum Association →
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 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing