Washington · Nonprofit
IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM (Washington) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,121,318 to it, the largest being NOVEMBER THANKSGIVING FOUNDATION ($3,260,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Imagine Children's Museum does
Mission
Utilize playful learning to enrich childrens lives.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
1. Museum experiences and public programs imagines 68,000 square foot, three-story facility provides a community gathering place where families spend high quality time together year-round in a physically and emotionally safe environment. Immersive hands-on exhibits, performances, and art and science activities support all children regardless of race, ethnicity, ability, or family income. In 2024 the museum welcomed 290,917 visitors. Included in museum admission are value-added programs that include exhibit-based programs focused on stem topics, creativity and the arts, and performances by local artists and cultural groups. 2. Community access programs nearly 30% of imagines overall visitation are families who visit free or at a reduced cost. Community access programs include participation in the museums for all program which provides low-cost access to those families who use electronic benefits transfer (ebt), apple health, chip, foster parent cards, provider one, snap or wic. Families can receive admission at $5 per person for up to four (4) family members in the same household. Active military also receive discounted admission to the museum. 3. Education and outreach programs…
$5,102,508 spent$3,329,259 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,102,508.
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 2019 to 2020, from $21M to $28M (+37%).
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: 2019 1% · 2020 44% · 2021 18% · 2022 3% · 2023 2% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
28% of IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $72k → $1.1M.
9 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 78% · 2019 81% · 2020 54% · 2021 45% · 2022 64% · 2023 46% — growing more concentrated.
“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 IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
64% of IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $838k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's funding base is broadening — from 7 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $474k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$454k
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 IMAGINE CHILDREN'S 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
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 IMAGINE CHILDREN'S 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 IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM?
- IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM (Washington) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,121,318 to it, the largest being NOVEMBER THANKSGIVING FOUNDATION ($3,260,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $10,121,318 in grants to IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM?
- NOVEMBER THANKSGIVING FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,260,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IMAGINE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Imagine Children's 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 54 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