Tennessee · Nonprofit
MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY
MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY (Tennessee) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $823,202 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($166,400). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.2M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $823k
- Net assets
- $8.6M
What Memphis Museums of Science & History does
Mission
The pink palace family of museums inspires people to learn how history, science, technology, and nature shape the mid-south. Through rich collections, thought-provoking exhibitions, and engaging programs, we encourage our diverse community to reflect (continued) (continued) on the past, understand the present, and influence the future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Memphis museum education programs -- giant screen theater featuring history, natural history, and science films; lichterman nature center featuring indoor exhibits and outdoor habitats with environmental education programs; pink palace education school and general audience programs; coon creek science center for school groups evacavating 73 million y.o. Fossils including university research and teacher training in partership with univ tn-martin; sharpe planetarium featuring educational astromony-related show for the public and school groups; and historic properties --educational programs and guided tours of the 1836 magevney house and the 1852 mallory-neely house. Programs include historic preservation projects; guided tours interpreting the homes, the people who lived in them, the furnishings, clothing, (continued) (continued) food, and social history as experienced through the residents of the houses. 332,905 persons benefitted.
$1,270,409 spent$1,107,028 earned by the program50% of program spendingPink palace exhibitions -- permanent exhibitions about the cultural history and natural history of the mid-south. Temporary/traveling exhibitions about science, history, and natural history. 149,191 persons benefitted.
$1,225,634 spent$279,241 earned by the program48% of program spendingCuratorial services -- conservation and preservation of over 60,000 artifacts and objects in support of education programs and exhibitions. 482,096 persons benefitted.
$60,060 spent$13,962 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,556,103.
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 $5.2M to $7.2M (+38%).
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 12% · 2018 9% · 2019 9% · 2020 14% · 2021 7% · 2022 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY’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. 3 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $53k → $55k.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 22 of 23 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
MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
48% 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 MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 52% · 2019 25% · 2020 26% · 2021 26% · 2022 32% · 2023 44% — 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
47% of MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
71% of MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $216k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY has grown faster than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $115k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$65k
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration$50k
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 MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY
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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
45% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- City of Memphis Division of Park Services · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY: 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 MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY?
- MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY (Tennessee) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $823,202 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($166,400). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $823,202 in grants to MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $166,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MEMPHIS MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE & HISTORY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Memphis Museums of Science & History →
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 23 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