Arizona · Nonprofit
IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION
IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Arizona) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,124,691 to it, the largest being Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust ($358,750). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $486k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $768k
What Idea Museum Foundation does
Mission
Provide sustainable resources to fulfill the idea Museums mission through fundraising, advocacy, and partnerships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The idea Museum is owned by the City of Mesa and is supported by the nonprofit organization the idea Museum Foundation. The Museum inspires children of all ages to experience their world differently through art, creativity and imagination. This is accomplished through art exhibitions and STEAM experiences designed to support early learning, nurture creative thinking, and engage families. The idea Museum Foundation supports educational programs, exhibitions, and operations at the idea Museum with funds, both earned and contributed.
$1,098,669 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,098,669.
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 $409k to $1.4M (+234%).
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 8% · 2019 43% · 2020 31% · 2022 2% · 2023 13% · 2024 4% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Allyn Bransby
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $1k → $130k.
6 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION’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
IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
32% 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 IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 87% · 2018 62% · 2019 79% · 2020 55% · 2021 38% · 2022 48% · 2023 62% — 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
50% of IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
75% of IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $356k 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
IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
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 IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION: 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 IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Arizona) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,124,691 to it, the largest being Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust ($358,750). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $1,124,691 in grants to IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust is the largest funder on record, with $358,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IDEA MUSEUM FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 13 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