Arkansas · Nonprofit
MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM
MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM (Arkansas) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,195,507 to it, the largest being ARKANSAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($1,951,193). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $6.9M
What Mid America Science Museum does
Mission
The mission of the mid-america science museum is to stimulate interest in science, to promote public understanding of the sciences, and to encourage life-long science education through interactive exhibits and programs. The museum accomplishes this mission through a newly renovated facility with over 90 hands-on educational exhibits, a digital dome theater, an outdoor science skywalk and the world's most powerful conical tesla coil.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Educational programming is germane to the mission of mid-america science museum. Since 2015, the museum has served nearly 100,000 k-8 students through on-site hands-on classes and workshops including topics such as robotics, engineering, biology, and astronomy. An additional 1500 students are served each year through out-of-school programming such as science after school, after-school outreach, and science kits delivered to schools. Young learners ages 2-5 are engaged in science and literacy education in the scientots program and the kye yac clubhouse exhibit. Family learning and engagement is encouraged during annual events such as tesla fest, celebrating the inventions of nikola tesla, and tinkerfest, promoting hands-on exploration and invention.
$2,170,714 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,170,714.
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 $8.9M to $7.9M (−12%).
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: 2018 2% · 2019 1% · 2020 6% · 2022 4% · 2023 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
22% of MID AMERICA SCIENCE 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. 7 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.
Board chair
Susanne Steed
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $166k → $58k.
3 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 89% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 94% · 2019 72% · 2020 93% · 2021 90% · 2022 94% · 2023 52% — 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
40% of MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
90% of MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM'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 $224k that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from Arkansas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM is better cushioned than half 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
Government funding MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $68k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$68k
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 MID AMERICA SCIENCE 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 Arkansas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 MID AMERICA SCIENCE 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 MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM?
- MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM (Arkansas) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,195,507 to it, the largest being ARKANSAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($1,951,193). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $2,195,507 in grants to MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM?
- ARKANSAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,951,193 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MID AMERICA SCIENCE MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arkansas. 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 Mid America Science Museum →
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 19 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