Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA
THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,076,519 to it, the largest being WOODWARD GEO JR AND HARRIET E T W ($1,674,971). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $26M
- Funders on record
- 90
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $106M
What The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia does
Mission
The mission is "to understand the natural world and inspire everyone to care for it." the academy implements its mission through understanding the diversity of life; developing and applying science to protect the environment; and informing and building a movement of environmentally engaged communities for a healthy, sustainable and equitable planet.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Science division - academy scientists conduct research around the world, collecting samples that help them document biodiversity, trace evolution, and track environmental changes over time. For over 200 years, academy scientists have preserved, curated, and studied what is now a world-class collection of an estimated 19 million biological specimens that document the history of life on earth. The academy's environmental work includes a focus on understanding and managing the varied impacts of humans on the environment and the impacts of environmental conditions on diverse human communities. Funding for research comes from federal, state, and local governmental agencies, private corporations, and foundations. Through festivals (such as our popular bug fest), members' night, behind-the-scenes tours, publications, and public programs, scientists share their discoveries, enabling colleagues, visitors, and members to gain further insight into earth's environmental processes and how to maintain a sustainable future. Through research expeditions, academy scientists produce scientific publications and expand collections that support researchers and scientists worldwide. The academy and…
$7,677,553 spentof which $539,691 as grants$2,272,278 earned by the program46% of program spendingPublic education - the academy brings natural science to life through three floors of engaging permanent exhibits that include our historic dioramas and dinosaur hall, as well as the children's nature discovery center, outside in, that facilitates hands-on experiences with live animals. While visitation to the academy is still rebounding from the effects of the global covid-19 pandemic, we welcomed more than 126,000 visitors in the fiscal year 2025. This past summer, the number of group visits for summer camps continued to increase, and attendees of the academy's popular summer science camp rose significantly. The academy continues to offer exciting new experiences to the public. In 2025, the academy presented the first-ever co-created exhibition with drexel's westphal college. The exhibition featured stunning and provocative garments from drexel's robert and penny fox historic costume collection alongside specimens from the academy of natural sciences and works by contemporary changemakers. Together, the exhibition boldly explored how materials, production processes, and our own patterns of clothing consumption impact the world around us. In our spotlight gallery, we presented…
$7,684,285 spentof which $1,000 as grants$3,047,810 earned by the program46% of program spendingLibrary and archives - the academy's library and archives is internationally recognized for its rare and historic collection of 80,000 titles spanning five centuries as well as over 1 million archival items including manuscripts, correspondence, field notebooks, films, journals, photographs, and works of art. The library and archives provides services to both a wide range of scholarly users and the public. The department frequently hosts research appointments, class visits, and special sessions with the drexel academic community. Its holdings and services are regularly used by academy scientists and collections experts, drexel faculty and students, and external researchers. It also plays a key role in the academy's efforts to make its collections and associated data more widely accessible. Its staff actively contribute to the conception and implementation of academy exhibitions and programs, and its materials continue to be popularly featured in the museum's offerings and digital outreach. Library & archives is a member of the consortium for the history of science, technology, and medicine (together with drexel university libraries and the legacy center); a participating…
$1,254,140 spentof which $3,000 as grants$610,162 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: $16,615,978.
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 2020 to 2021, from $91M to $107M (+18%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2021 2% · 2022 6% · 2023 0% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
48% of THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (52% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $849k → $1.7M.
10 of 90 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 90 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
THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
32% 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 THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 60% · 2019 27% · 2020 18% · 2021 18% · 2022 12% · 2023 30% — 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
43% of THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
50% of THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 85 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 85 science & tech nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.1M on record.
- National Science Foundation$5.6M
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.5M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$808k
- Environmental Protection Agency$670k
- Department of the Interior$404k
- Department of State$25k
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 THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Drexel University · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA: 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 THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA?
- THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,076,519 to it, the largest being WOODWARD GEO JR AND HARRIET E T W ($1,674,971). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA have?
- IRS filings report 90 organizations giving $12,076,519 in grants to THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA?
- WOODWARD GEO JR AND HARRIET E T W is the largest funder on record, with $1,674,971 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 90 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