South Dakota · Nonprofit
South Dakota Discovery Center
South Dakota Discovery Center (South Dakota) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $826,288 to it, the largest being OAHE FOUNDATION ($235,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $851k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $826k
- Net assets
- $151k
What South Dakota Discovery Center does
Mission
The sd discovery center empowers all peoples of the great plains through hands-on experiences that inspire scientific things
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization fosters public understanding, hands-on physical science experience and enjoyment of scientific phenomena through exhibits open to the public
$247,414 spent$313,285 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $247,414.
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 2022 to 2023, from $98k to $467k (+377%).
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 48% · 2018 58% · 2019 55% · 2020 49% · 2021 52% · 2022 50% · 2023 64% · 2024 56% · 2025 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of South Dakota Discovery Center’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $28k → $112k.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 South Dakota Discovery 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
South Dakota Discovery Center leans on a few funders — its largest provides 28% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 South Dakota Discovery Center.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 42% · 2021 42% · 2022 56% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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 South Dakota Discovery Center's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
63% of South Dakota Discovery 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 $302k that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from South Dakota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $524k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
South Dakota Discovery Center runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,954 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,954 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding South Dakota Discovery Center receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $346k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$301k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$45k
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 South Dakota Discovery 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 South Dakota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
41% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for South Dakota Discovery 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 South Dakota Discovery Center?
- South Dakota Discovery Center (South Dakota) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $826,288 to it, the largest being OAHE FOUNDATION ($235,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does South Dakota Discovery Center have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $826,288 in grants to South Dakota Discovery Center, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of South Dakota Discovery Center?
- OAHE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $235,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like South Dakota Discovery Center find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Dakota. 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 14 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