Ohio · Nonprofit
NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC
NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC (Ohio) receives grants from 157 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,051,525 to it, the largest being NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING ASSOCIATION ($3,059,186). 99 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $50M
- Funders on record
- 157
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $72M
What National Inventors Hall of Fame Inc does
Mission
A catalyst for change through recognizing inventors and inventions, promoting creativity, and advancing the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Children's education - programs and initiatives to create public awareness of the major role that invention, inventors and patents, trademarks and copyrights play in america's economic and cultural success and to nurture the creative and inventive spirit of american children and to inspire them to enter the exciting fields of science and math in an effort to continue america's dominance in the future.
$33,061,847 spent$33,929,502 earned by the program90% of program spendingOther inventor recognition - operate recognition programs for inventors and other ip owners and developers, and produce private and public events that honor educate, and encourage independent inventors, and entrepreneurs.
$2,547,071 spentof which $114,883 as grants7% of program spendingMuseum & inventors exhibits - the national inventors hall of fame museum housed in the us patent and trademark office in alexandria, va. Is operated and maintained by national inventors hall of fame, inc. Each year a new exhibit is built and installed at the museum. The annual induction ceremony is also created and produced by national inventors hall of fame, inc.
$1,052,757 spent$57,822 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $36,661,675.
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 $62M to $73M (+18%).
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 9% · 2018 9% · 2019 10% · 2020 30% · 2021 15% · 2022 11% · 2023 12% · 2024 13% · 2025 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
26% of NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 69 funders, grant income rose $657k → $2.9M.
35 of 157 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 157 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
NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% 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
38% 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 NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 37% · 2019 36% · 2020 22% · 2021 21% · 2022 21% · 2023 22% — 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
39% of NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC draws 66% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 31 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $70k on record — $70k federal, $225 state.
- Department of Commerce$60k
- Department of Agriculture$10k
- Other Gr, Awds, Schlshps&Loans$225
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 NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME 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 Ohio
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
83%
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
- National Inventors Hall of Fame Selection Board · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME 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 NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC?
- NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC (Ohio) receives grants from 157 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,051,525 to it, the largest being NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING ASSOCIATION ($3,059,186). 99 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC have?
- IRS filings report 157 organizations giving $18,051,525 in grants to NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC, 99 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC?
- NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING ASSOCIATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,059,186 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 157 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