California · Nonprofit
SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC
SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,420,665 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($374,161). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $714k
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $230k
What Science Is Elementary Inc does
Mission
To provide inspiring, innovative, high-quality science experiences to the preschool and elementary school children who need them most.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Science is for me!: a book series with diverse characters that allows young children (age 5-7) to do science experiments on their own. Approximately 50,000 children benefited through this program.
$573,890 spent$42,497 earned by the program80% of program spendingIn-class instruction: brings educators and volunteer scientists to under-served classrooms to conduct hands-on experiments and cultivate curiosity and encourage scientific thinking. Approximately 1,000 children benefited from the in class instruction.
$83,244 spent$29,125 earned by the program12% of program spendingProfessional development: teaching teachers science, scientific thinking, how to facilitate experiential learning and how to integrate science into other content areas. Approximately 100 teachers participated in this program.
$55,805 spent$6,281 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $712,939.
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 $189k to $324k (+71%).
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 11% · 2023 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% 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
Tzipor Ulman
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $20k → $691k.
8 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
45% 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 SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 42% · 2019 26% · 2020 33% · 2021 31% · 2022 22% · 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
60% of SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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 SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY 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. $674k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC has grown faster than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY 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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY 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 SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC?
- SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,420,665 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($374,161). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $2,420,665 in grants to SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $374,161 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY 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.
Play a game about who funds Science Is Elementary →
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 36 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