California · Nonprofit
QUEST SCIENCE CENTER
QUEST SCIENCE CENTER (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $868,741 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($500,117). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $713k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $869k
- Net assets
- $540k
What Quest Science Center does
Mission
To inspire & nurture everyday exploration for lifelong engagement with science & technology.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Tri-valley innovation fair - quest planned and led the 7th annual tri-valley innovation fair which was held at the alameda county fairgrounds. This popular event had 3,000 attendees in 2025, primarily youth and their families to see hands-on exhibits and demonstrations that showcased innovative regional science, technology, and education organizations.
$184,973 spent$163,477 earned by the program34% of program spendingPlanetary health/sustainability program - quest ran a planetary health program with 50 high school volunteer interns from the tri-valley region. Projects included urban heat mapping, carbon garden, water management, stopwaste art, and school district climate literacy curriculum.
$125,305 spent$50,334 earned by the program23% of program spendingCommunity science and engineering programs - quest fielded hands-on activities at over 50 events throughout the tri-valley and surrounding region, reaching over 20,000 attendees. These events included: science at stockmen's park, student and family science events at schools, library events, various community, festival, and holiday events, and several events sponsored by local businesses.
$230,757 spent$33,932 earned by the program43% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $541,035.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2022 to 2023, from $375k to $564k (+50%).
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: 2023 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of QUEST SCIENCE CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (79% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $50k → $174k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 QUEST SCIENCE CENTER’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
QUEST SCIENCE CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 QUEST SCIENCE CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 80% · 2020 100% · 2021 93% · 2022 44% · 2023 42% — 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
80% of QUEST SCIENCE CENTER's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 58% 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
59% of QUEST SCIENCE CENTER'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 $354k that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $515k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
QUEST SCIENCE CENTER has grown faster than three-quarters of the 453 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 453 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like QUEST SCIENCE CENTER
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 QUEST SCIENCE CENTER: 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 QUEST SCIENCE CENTER?
- QUEST SCIENCE CENTER (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $868,741 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($500,117). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does QUEST SCIENCE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $868,741 in grants to QUEST SCIENCE CENTER, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of QUEST SCIENCE CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $500,117 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like QUEST SCIENCE CENTER 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 Quest Science Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 12 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