Mississippi · Nonprofit
MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (Mississippi) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $269,723 to it, the largest being ERGON FOUNDATION INC ($160,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $308k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $270k
- Net assets
- $690k
What Ms Museum of Natural Science Foundation does
Mission
The foundation was established to support the mississippi museum of natural science though receiving, maintaining and distributing funds exclusively for the benefit of the museum.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The foundation's program service accomplishment is to provide financial support to the mississippi museum of natural science, its mission and activities, including but not limited to promotion of the understanding and appreciation of mississippi's biological diversity through collections, research and educational activities.
$267,334 spentof which $75,634 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $267,334.
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 2018 to 2019, from $722k to $639k (−11%).
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 37% · 2018 22% · 2019 13% · 2020 10% · 2021 5% · 2022 21% · 2023 10% · 2024 3% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% 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
Lorose Moore
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $13k → $36k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION’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
MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 78% · 2019 66% · 2020 80% · 2021 81% · 2022 80% · 2023 55% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Mississippi funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $49k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 3 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
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 Mississippi
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
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 MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: 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 MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION?
- MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (Mississippi) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $269,723 to it, the largest being ERGON FOUNDATION INC ($160,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $269,723 in grants to MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION?
- ERGON FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $160,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MS MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Mississippi. 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 6 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