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Missouri · Nonprofit

ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION

ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,910,189 to it, the largest being The Bauer Family Foundation Inc ($1,178,879). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$580k
Funders on record
29
Grants received
$2.9M
Net assets
$1.6M
18/29 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 82%
01What it does

What St Louis Aquarium at Union Station Foundation does

Mission

To engage the community through access and education programs, serving as the region's recognized voice for water stewardship.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. The foundation will maintain a conservation and education center within the aquarium in union station and provide free aquarium field trips and educational programs to title I schools and other underserved communities. The center will offer free hands-on, stem-based and aquatic-themed exhibits and interactives for kids (and adults) to learn about the mississippi river watershed, water conservation, as well as provide opportunities for visitors to get involved in the community's water-themed recreation and volunteer activities. The center will also include a flexible space for temporary exhibits, a classroom, and workshops for the public presented by local nonprofits, furthering our education and conversation reach into the community.

    $423,464 spent$108,380 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $423,464.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($302k) Expenses 100 ($166k) Net assets 100 ($136k)2019 Revenue 745 ($2.3M) Expenses 198 ($328k) Net assets 1515 ($2.1M)2020 Revenue 182 ($550k) Expenses 389 ($647k) Net assets 1444 ($2.0M)2021 Revenue 213 ($642k) Expenses 496 ($823k) Net assets 1311 ($1.8M)2022 Revenue 185 ($558k) Expenses 448 ($745k) Net assets 1173 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 234 ($707k) Expenses 373 ($619k) Net assets 1238 ($1.7M)2024 Revenue 192 ($580k) Expenses 405 ($672k) Net assets 1170 ($1.6M)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (192)Expenses (405)Net assets (1170)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 2018 to 2019, from $142k to $2.2M (+1471%).

$142k
$2.2M
$2.2M
$2.1M
$2.0M
$2.2M
$2.0M
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

81% of ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (86% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 7,042 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$136k
’18
$1.9M
’19
−$97k
’20
−$181k
’21
−$187k
’22
$88k
’23
−$93k
’24
5.0
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

Steve O'Loughlin

Chairman, president

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed8111112111111
Joined·+3+0+1+0+1+0
No longer listed·000110
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 14 funders, grant income fell $1.8M → $261k.

5 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION’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

ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

44% 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 ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION.

41%
largest funder
78%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 54% · 2020 51% · 2021 26% · 2022 32% · 2023 29% — 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

38% of ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Missouri, across 4 states in all.

MN
CT
MO
TX

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

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Missouri out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION has grown faster than half of the 6,435 animals nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−16% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve5.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)11% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION

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 Missouri

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

63% of spending goes to programs.

Program 63%Management 36%Fundraising 1%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

68%

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 ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION: 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 ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION?
ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,910,189 to it, the largest being The Bauer Family Foundation Inc ($1,178,879). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $2,910,189 in grants to ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION?
The Bauer Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $1,178,879 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 St Louis Aquarium at Union Station →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 29 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