Wisconsin · Nonprofit
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 158 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,214,896 to it, the largest being MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM ENDOWMENT FUND ($1,131,115). 114 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 158
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $8.4M
What Milwaukee Public Museum Inc does
Mission
The milwaukee public museum inspires curiosity, excites minds and increases desire to preserve and protect our world's natural and cultural diversity through exhibitions, educational programs, collections and research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The milwaukee public museum, inc. Operates a natural history museum, which focuses on exhibits, public programming, and research in the natural sciences, anthropology and history. The milwaukee public museum, inc. Uniquely and directly addresses the themes of biological and cultural diversity and their interrelationships. The milwaukee public museum, inc. Preserves and cares for its collections held in public trust. Through research and collections, the Milwaukee Public Museum Inc. Seeks knowledge and understanding of global change and diversity from geological, biological, cultural, and historical perspectives. Through its renowned exhibits, its programs and its publications, the milwaukee public museum, inc. Interprets these themes to diverse audiences.
$10,671,240 spent$3,974,969 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,671,240.
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 2024 to 2025, from $15M to $13M (−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 32% · 2018 29% · 2019 29% · 2020 33% · 2021 30% · 2022 25% · 2023 23% · 2024 30% · 2025 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% 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.
Chief executive
Ellen Censky
President/CEO
Board chair
John Roberts
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 50 funders to 76 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $1.5M.
16 of 158 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.1M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC raised.
From the IRS filings of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 158 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
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 8% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 33% · 2019 20% · 2020 13% · 2021 17% · 2022 30% · 2023 30% — 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
60% of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
89% of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC's funding base is broadening — from 50 funders to 76 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $860k on record — $859k federal, $63 state.
- National Science Foundation$475k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$363k
- Department of the Interior$22k
- Freight Expenses$63
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 MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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
- Milwaukee Public Museum Endowment Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM 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 MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC?
- MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 158 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,214,896 to it, the largest being MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM ENDOWMENT FUND ($1,131,115). 114 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 158 organizations giving $14,214,896 in grants to MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC, 114 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC?
- MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM ENDOWMENT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,131,115 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 158 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