Ohio · Nonprofit
LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER
LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER (Ohio) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,083,377 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($443,377). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 57
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $8.3M
What Lake Erie Nature and Science Center does
Mission
Lake erie nature & science center educates and inspires each of us to understand, appreciate, and take responsibility for our natural world. Serving more than 100,000 people each year with animal exhibits and programs, planetarium shows, and wildlife rehabilitation services, and
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Nature-based preschool and field trips for school age children: the center provides young children and students with hands-on nature exploration, planetarium visits and animal encounters that complement social and academic development. Nature-based classes and summer camps for preschool age children are led by experienced teachers who encourage children to explore the outdoors, meet new friends, encounter local wildlife, and discover the wonders of the sky. At field trips and summer camps, school age children learn about native wildlife, natural history and astronomy aligned with academic standards in math, biology, space science, and social studies.
$435,035 spent$454,204 earned by the program36% of program spendingSpace science education: seeing constellations in the night sky and learning about the universe under a full dome is an experience treasured by visitors young and old. Our full dome planetarium theater and dual projection technology provides visitors with an immersive learning experience through high-resolution, 360 degree images and a realistic, breathtaking display of over 3,000 stars. Planetarium programs are designed to reach visitors of any age especially children 0-6, and school age children. Our schuele planetarium is one of only two in the cleveland area that are publicly accessible. Telescope viewing programs at our park setting and our astronomy club involve a community of learners about space science.
$308,651 spent$132,120 earned by the program26% of program spendingAnimal exhibits, programs and wildlife rehabilitation: live animal exhibits and programs connect people to the natural world with up close views of mammals, raptors, waterfowl, reptiles, and fish. Wildlife rehabilitation services assist people who bring ill or injured wildlife to our facility, and provide proper treatment for wildlife with the goal of release. Our center is the only facility of its kind in cuyahoga county that provides the public with wildlife rehabilitation services. Wildlife services and live animal exhibits are managed under rules and standards of federal, state and local permits. College students gain valuable experience in wildlife rehabilitation, animal care, and public animal programs through internships.
$450,926 spent$26,654 earned by the program38% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,194,612.
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 2020 to 2021, from $5.3M to $6.7M (+27%).
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 13% · 2018 11% · 2019 10% · 2020 14% · 2021 25% · 2022 6% · 2023 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER’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. 2 of the last 9 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
Catherine Timko
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $143k → $508k.
12 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 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
LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 22% · 2019 23% · 2020 35% · 2021 19% · 2022 17% · 2023 13% — 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
64% of LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
96% of LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $716k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER holds deeper cash reserves 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 LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER: 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 LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER?
- LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER (Ohio) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,083,377 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($443,377). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $3,083,377 in grants to LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $443,377 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LAKE ERIE NATURE AND SCIENCE CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Lake Erie Nature and Science Center →
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 57 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