California · Nonprofit
PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY
PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY (California) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,540,879 to it, the largest being SAMUELI FOUNDATION ($1,005,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 38
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Pretend City the Children's Museum of Orange County does
Mission
Pretend City is a children's museum focused on the developmental growth and success of children 0-8 through play, imagination and real-world experiences while building the capacity of adults to care for them.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
For 2024, 201,997 children and adults visited Pretend City Children's Museum. That number included 6,456 children and chaperones experiencing Pretend City via 120 subsidized school or group field trips and 1,893 students and chaperones coming via 32 fully funded scholarships field trips. 5,864 adults and children enjoyed the educational learning Pretend City has to offer while attending birthday parties or facility rentals hosted at the museum. Over 12,000 free admission tickets were distributed to nonprofit organizations and communities throughout Orange County. Through our Good to go! Program initiative, Pretend City screened 671 children for developmental delay throughout the year. 653 health screenings were performed at our annual School Readiness Fair. Additionally, many children received a free screening from one of the following: vision, dental, fine/gross motor, speech & language, bmi, and audiology during our Way to Play days. Pretend City was able to serve 3,420 children and family members at our neurodivergent family nights and 1,893 children and family members attended our baby Steps development mornings.
$2,947,441 spent$2,784,515 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,947,441.
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 2021 to 2022, from $6.1M to $13M (+120%).
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: 2019 3% · 2020 13% · 2021 43% · 2022 3% · 2023 3% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY’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 8 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 Pais
Executive Director
Board chair
Erin Boyl
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $72k → $429k.
11 of 38 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 38 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
PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
28% 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 PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 70% · 2018 60% · 2019 47% · 2020 42% · 2021 46% · 2022 58% · 2023 45% — 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 PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
79% of PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $814k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $694k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$649k
- National Endowment for the Arts$45k
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 PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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 PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY: 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 PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY?
- PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY (California) receives grants from 38 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,540,879 to it, the largest being SAMUELI FOUNDATION ($1,005,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 38 organizations giving $3,540,879 in grants to PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY?
- SAMUELI FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,005,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PRETEND CITY THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF ORANGE COUNTY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Pretend City the Children's Museum of Orange County →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 38 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