California · Nonprofit
SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC
SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $318,633 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($89,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $240k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $319k
- Net assets
- $460k
What Schmahl Science Workshops Inc does
Mission
The children of schmahl science workshops love science. Like children everywhere, they learn most effectively when they are challenged and having fun. We are a partnership of students, parents, scientists, engineers and educators who have come together to help foster this interest in science. We believe children are motivated to learn when their ideas are cultivated through the fun of designing and developing experiments. Schmahl science workshops put the "sizzle" back into science.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Outreach descriptionssw provides our outreach hands-on workshops to schools that do not have the resources to include science as a regular part of their instructional program. Ssw has over 750 pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade hands-on science / engineering workshops, each directly linked to ngss. Our programs inspire & empower youth to become young scientists, pursuing & developing their interest in stem fields through hands-on experiences that become opportunities for career advancement. In 32 years, hundreds of young scientists working with ssw have received many awards. Students have gone on to pursue college majors in stem fields. Ssw instructors are scientists & engineers. As scientists & engineers, they model passion for science & technology to spark or fan the flames of a genuine interest in stem fields. In addition, we donated supplies and equipment to nonprofits, including gilroy high school and goodwill to support students.
$151,741 spentof which $5,812 as grants$66,975 earned by the program84% of program spendingOur seminar program emphasizes both the nature and the process of science. These are two different aspects of science. The nature of science deals with issues in the philosophy, sociology, and history of science. It includes concerns, such as the nature or attributes of scientific knowledge itself - e.g., that scientific knowledge is durable, but is always inherently subject to change. The process of science addresses what scientists do in order to develop that knowledge. The objective of the seminar research program is to provide students with practical application of science and engineering concepts to equip students with fundamental knowledge that students need to succeed.our seminar research program is designed to provide students with an opportunity to build on an interest in research / engineering and develop skills, knowledge and analytics critical to success. Each student pursues a topic (or topics) of his / her own interest in a real lab situation, paired with a scientist / engineer mentor who has experience in the chosen research field. The seminar includes training in lab safety, literature research, lab notebook documentation, and laboratory techniques and data…
$10,158 spentof which $26 as grants$6,830 earned by the program6% of program spendingIndependent research program descriptionour individual research program is designed to provide talented middle and high school students with the mentors, laboratory space and equipment necessary to design, develop and implement advanced research projects. Students learn how to design a project budget, timeline, workflow/schedule plan, and safety plan in addition to the literature research, project design, implementation, and statistical analysis. We donated supplies and equipment to nonprofits, including gilroy high school, biolink and goodwill to support students.
$18,654 spentof which $7,135 as grants$2,970 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $180,553.
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 $687k to $555k (−19%).
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: 2021 38% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Belinda E Lowe Schmahl
Executive director
Board chair
Ken Schmahl
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $6k → $24k.
5 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC’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
SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC 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
53% 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 SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 100% · 2019 55% · 2020 37% · 2021 26% · 2022 57% · 2023 62% — 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
44% of SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
83% of SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $150k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS 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 SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC?
- SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $318,633 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($89,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $318,633 in grants to SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $89,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SCHMAHL SCIENCE WORKSHOPS INC 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.
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 13 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