California · Nonprofit
SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM
SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,731,937 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($1,043,528). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.6M
- Funders on record
- 65
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $24M
What San Jose Children's Discovery Museum does
Mission
Children's discovery museum of san jose inspires creativity, curiosity and lifelong learning.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Bubbling up exhibit - cdm's reimagined outdor bubble exhibit where you can marvel at the changing rainbow of colors, experiment with differenct types, shapes and sizes of bubbles.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Children's discovery museum of san jose ("the museum") is a california nonprofit public benefit corporation organized in 1982 and incorporated in 1983. The museum operates a children's museum which addresses the educational needs of children, youth and their families in santa clara county through participatory exhibits and programs that engage the senses and challenge the mind.exhibitsover its 35 years of operation, the museum has welcomed more than 10.5 million visitors. During the year ended august 31, 2025, the museum provided engaging learning opportunities to over 223,800 family visitors and 24,200 in groups. An increase of 5% over the prior year, attributable to the ongoing recovery after covid and directed marketing strategies. The museum maintained a full-day schedule on weekends, holidays, and during the summer, operating from 9:30 a.m. To 4:30 p.m., and a shorter weekday schedule, tuesday through friday from 9:30 a.m. To 1:00 p.m.the majority of cdm's exhibits, which focus on children to age 10 and their parents and caregivers, are highly tactile and encourage touching, exploring, manipulating and experimenting, while cutting across the disciplines of art, science and…
$2,073,036 spent$2,243,985 earned by the program45% of program spendingEducational programsthe museum provides on-site and outreach programs which complement its exhibits and support visitor interactions and learning opportunities. During the year, cdm saw an increase in group visits to the museum, with over 24,200 served, which represents 7% increase in group attendance over the prior year and an additional 8,800 served through on-site or outreach programs. In early spring, cdm reactivated its birthday party program in the teal party room adjacent to the museum's front entrance, which has been well received by museum visitors.the museum's mission continues to support a three-pronged approach to the arts: engagement with and viewing the work of professional artists, exploring other children's art, and creating individual works of art in various formats. The artist-in-residence program, housed in the leroy neiman arts studio, continues to showcase local professional visual artists over a threcmonth residency, leading children in art-making activities and sharing their professional talents.through various cultural festivals, such as mid-autumn festival, dia de los muertos, diwali, menorahs and miracles, dia de los tres reyes magos, lunar new year,…
$2,563,865 spent$36,148 earned by the program55% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,636,901.
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 2020 to 2021, from $24M to $25M (+5%).
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 15% · 2018 20% · 2019 9% · 2020 12% · 2021 43% · 2022 41% · 2023 26% · 2024 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
64% of SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Marilee Jennings
Executive director
Board chair
Alan Marks
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $339k → $567k.
20 of 65 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 65 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
SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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
64% 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 SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 50% · 2019 23% · 2020 47% · 2021 18% · 2022 34% · 2023 26% — broadly stable.
“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
43% of SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
54% of SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM'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 $2.2M that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$924k
- Department of Commerce$115k
- National Endowment for the Arts$100k
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 SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: 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 SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM?
- SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM (California) receives grants from 65 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,731,937 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($1,043,528). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 65 organizations giving $4,731,937 in grants to SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM?
- The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,043,528 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN JOSE CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM 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 San Jose Children's Discovery Museum →
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 65 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