Missouri · Nonprofit
THE BIOME SCHOOL
THE BIOME SCHOOL (Missouri) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,067,108 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($353,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.1M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $818k
What The Biome School does
Mission
The biome is a new kind of k-5 school, for the next generation. One that offers customized, project-based and student-centered learning opportunities with an emphasis on a growth mindset and steam (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) education. The biome charter school creates a balanced learning ecosystem in which teachers work together with students to cultivate a growth mindset as they discover their unique gifts, talents, and interests.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
During the year ended june 30, 2025, the biome education group elected to simplify its operations with The Biome School. In doing so, the biome education group moved all executive, operations, and extended care staffing costs to The Biome School. This transition happened in august of 2025.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
The biome, a not-for-profit corporation, is an independent publicly supported charter school located in the metropolitan area of the st. Louis missouri public school district. The school was organized in 2014 under chapter 355 revised statutes of missouri (rsmo) and governed by senate bill no. 781 of the 89th general assembly of the missouri legislature. The school under current missouri statutes is considered to be a local education agency (lea).
$3,048,946 spent$3,275 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,048,946.
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 $506k to $1.2M (+134%).
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 14% · 2018 3% · 2020 82% · 2021 88% · 2022 88% · 2023 87% · 2024 85% · 2025 86%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of THE BIOME SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Brian Phillips
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $57k → $146k.
8 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.6M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Biome Education Group). These are real filings, and they are not money THE BIOME SCHOOL raised.
From the IRS filings of THE BIOME SCHOOL’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
THE BIOME SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
82% 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 BIOME SCHOOL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 63% · 2019 59% · 2020 40% · 2021 31% · 2022 49% · 2023 49% — 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
29% of THE BIOME SCHOOL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
80% of THE BIOME SCHOOL'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 $213k that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $854k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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 BIOME SCHOOL runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE BIOME SCHOOL
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Biome Education Group · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE BIOME SCHOOL: 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 BIOME SCHOOL?
- THE BIOME SCHOOL (Missouri) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,067,108 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($353,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE BIOME SCHOOL have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,067,108 in grants to THE BIOME SCHOOL, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BIOME SCHOOL?
- ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $353,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BIOME SCHOOL 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 Biome School →
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 24 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