Vermont · Nonprofit
LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC
LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC (Vermont) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,725,970 to it, the largest being THE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($8,029,312). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $5.3M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $22M
What Leahy Center for Lake Champlain Inc does
Mission
Echo's mission is to inspire and engage everyone in the joy of scientific discovery, wonder of nature, and care of lake champlain.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Program
The public face of the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain Inc. (dba echo, leahy center for lake champlain or echo) is vermont's premier science and nature museum, located on burlington's waterfront overlooking beautiful lake champlain. Our mission is to inspire and engage everyone in the joy of scientific discovery, wonder of nature, and care of lake champlain. Visitors can explore over 100 interactive exhibits, encounter 50 live species, enjoy seasonal changing exhibitions, and experience immersive science and nature movies in our dealer.com 3d theater. Since opening our doors in 2003, we've welcomed more than 3 million visitors while operating 360 days per year. Today, our exhibits, programs, and collection of native aquatic animals reach more than 160,000 people annually. This includes 16,000 members, 7,500 school group visitors, 30,000 reduced-or free-admission guests, and 10,000 students, teachers, and families through our statewide rural outreach program. Echo is a public place where all are welcome and belong, where science and nature come alive, and where stewardship for a better tomorrow takes root and grows throughout vermont. The nonprofit is governed by a 17-member board…
$4,649,602 spent$1,256,098 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,649,602.
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 $17M to $20M (+16%).
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 4% · 2018 4% · 2019 13% · 2020 8% · 2021 17% · 2022 12% · 2023 4% · 2024 10% · 2025 19% · 2026 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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 10 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
Shireen Hart
Chair
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $32k → $473k.
10 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
85% 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 LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 25% · 2019 67% · 2020 73% · 2021 77% · 2022 21% · 2023 42% — 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
53% of LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
81% of LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.0M that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from funders outside Vermont, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.7M 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
LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC's revenue grew 55% between 2017 and 2026.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 36 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2026
Government funding LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.9M on record.
- Department of Energy$1.6M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.1M
- Department of Commerce$750k
- Department of Education$382k
- Department of the Interior$45k
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 LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC
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 Vermont
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
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 LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC: 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 LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC?
- LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC (Vermont) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,725,970 to it, the largest being THE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($8,029,312). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $10,725,970 in grants to LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC?
- THE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,029,312 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 Leahy Center for Lake Champlain →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 36 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