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Illinois · Nonprofit

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $286,135 to it, the largest being The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation ($146,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$2.7M
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$286k
Net assets
$10M
4/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 9%
01What it does

What Science Olympiad Inc does

Mission

Science education for all youth

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Program services to 16,500 schools representing 50,000 teachers and over two million students plus the distribution of educational manuals and resources

    $1,192,388 spent$573,334 earned by the program
    56% of program spending
  2. Tournament expenses for 400 tournaments in 50 states including scholarships to students

    $827,385 spent$800,800 earned by the program
    39% of program spending
  3. Training expenses for workshops and institutes for teachers

    $115,241 spent$202,142 earned by the program
    5% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,135,014.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($1.5M) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 100 ($7.7M)2021 Revenue 96 ($1.4M) Expenses 112 ($1.3M) Net assets 112 ($8.6M)2022 Revenue 97 ($1.5M) Expenses 131 ($1.5M) Net assets 96 ($7.4M)2023 Revenue 140 ($2.1M) Expenses 172 ($1.9M) Net assets 104 ($8.1M)2024 Revenue 163 ($2.5M) Expenses 198 ($2.2M) Net assets 122 ($9.5M)2025 Revenue 179 ($2.7M) Expenses 201 ($2.3M) Net assets 133 ($10M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (179)Expenses (201)Net assets (133)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $8.1M to $9.5M (+17%).

$7.7M
$8.6M
$7.4M
$8.1M
$9.5M
$10M
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

65% of SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 498 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$371k
’20
$177k
’21
−$29k
’22
$158k
’23
$210k
’24
$412k
’25
6.5
months of
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.

Board chair

Jon Pedersen

Exec boardboard chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed888899
Joined·+0+0+1+1+1
No longer listed·00101
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $2k → $5k.

2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 OLYMPIAD 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

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

51%
largest funder
87%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 97% · 2021 61% · 2022 69% · 2023 95% — 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

40% of SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 40% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC draws 95% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 6 states in all.

IL
OH
PA
CO
DC
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 210 science & tech nonprofits its size.

Operating margin15% · above the median
Months of reserve6.5mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)12% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $46k on record — $45k federal, $507 state.

Federal$45k
grants $0contracts $45k
17
18
19
Top agencies
  • Department of Health and Human Services$45k
State$507
22
23
24
Top programs
  • INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES$422
  • STUDENT BODY ACTIVITY$65
  • FREIGHT$20

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 SCIENCE OLYMPIAD 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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

93% of spending goes to programs.

Program 93%Management 7%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
75%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

IL
MI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SCIENCE OLYMPIAD 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.

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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 OLYMPIAD INC?
SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $286,135 to it, the largest being The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation ($146,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $286,135 in grants to SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC?
The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $146,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SCIENCE OLYMPIAD INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 10 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