Massachusetts · Nonprofit
STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB
STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $429,750 to it, the largest being THE SIMONS FOUNDATION INC ($179,462). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $53k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $430k
- Net assets
- $73k
What STEM Advocacy Institute Aka Civic Science Media Lab does
Mission
To provide access to research, infrastructure, mentorship, community, training, and funding for scholars and practitioners to study, experiment, explore and ultimately build the next generation of programs and tools that tackle complex challenges at the intersection of science and society.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Residency collective - this program supports independent storytellers and journalists covering developments in informal science education, science communication, and civic science public engagement. During the reporting period, the team collectively conducted nearly 100 interviews with civic science scholars and practitioners, resulting in video, audio, and digital articles that surfaced emerging field insights to a growing audience of more than 4,000 across platforms.
$63,897 spent98% of program spendingSummer internship program - this program offers undergraduate students opportunities to research and report on developments in civic science fields. During the reporting period, we hosted four undergraduate interns who received mentorship, training, and practical experience in civic science reporting, culminating in each intern producing one new publication at the end of their internship, which have hundreds of views online.
$1,500 spent2% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $65,397.
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.
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 $25k to $78k (+217%).
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.
93% of STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (65% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Fanuel Muindi
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $107k → $102k.
3 of 7 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 STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB’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
STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% 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
36% 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 STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 46% · 2022 48% · 2023 64% — 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.
Where its funders are
STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120k 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
STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB has grown faster than three-quarters of the 17,277 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,277 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
48%
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 STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB: 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 STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB?
- STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $429,750 to it, the largest being THE SIMONS FOUNDATION INC ($179,462). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $429,750 in grants to STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB?
- THE SIMONS FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $179,462 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STEM ADVOCACY INSTITUTE AKA CIVIC SCIENCE MEDIA LAB find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 STEM Advocacy Institute Aka Civic Science Media Lab →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 7 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