Maryland · Nonprofit
MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (Maryland) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,299,509 to it, the largest being SIGMUND M HYMAN FOUNDATION INC ($813,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $10M
- Funders on record
- 71
- Grants received
- $6.3M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Maryland Academy of Sciences does
Mission
To stimulate and cultivate awareness, interest, and understanding of science for all residents of and visitors to maryland through excellent and exciting educational programs and exhibits, and to be a regional resource and a national model of science education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educational courses - educator led enrichment experiences enhance the field trip visit by offering an in-depth look at the scientific principles and phenomena these courses lay the ground for teachers to continue the field trip post-visit.
$2,656,009 spentof which $13,000 as grants$672,717 earned by the program45% of program spendingExhibits - by taking school children out of the classroom and into the immersive environment of the science center, children experience science in a hands-on ways that helps illustrate lessons they have learned in schools
$1,326,077 spent22% of program spendingImax theatre and davis planetarium - imax films, especially the documentary format, take students on a journey to places they may never actually visit and help illustrate the wonders of nature, outer space, and scientific phenomena. The domed theater of the planetarium can bring astronomy down to the intimate level for close examination of planets and stars that are light years away.
$1,216,119 spent$248,014 earned by the program20% of program spendingGuest services - committed to unhindered access, the science center's guest services staff ensures that everyone who wants to experience all the institution has to offer can do so regardless of disability or other access challenges.science store - the store provides educators with teaching aids, books, models and other items that extend the lesson of the visit back in the classroom. Parents can avail themselves of unique learning tools, computer programs, science kits and other educational products not ready available at conventional retail outlets.membership - members help make programming possible at the maryland science center through their contributions to the membership program. As a partner with the science center, members are vested in the institution and are part of a community of people who value science education and the important role that science plays in our everyday lives.
$761,131 spent$2,340,985 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,959,336.
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 2023 to 2024, from $36M to $41M (+14%).
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 18% · 2019 23% · 2020 16% · 2021 33% · 2022 40% · 2023 25% · 2024 32% · 2025 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
57% of MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Mark J Potter
President & CEO
Board chair
Mark Zimmerly
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $376k → $695k.
16 of 71 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 71 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
MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 31% · 2019 34% · 2020 17% · 2021 34% · 2022 33% · 2023 29% — 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
65% of MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
84% of MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $742k 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
MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.0M on record.
- MD$3.0M
- DE$2k
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 MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: 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 MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES?
- MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (Maryland) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,299,509 to it, the largest being SIGMUND M HYMAN FOUNDATION INC ($813,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES have?
- IRS filings report 71 organizations giving $6,299,509 in grants to MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES?
- SIGMUND M HYMAN FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $813,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Maryland Academy of Sciences →
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 71 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