Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM
THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM (Massachusetts) receives grants from 91 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,503,881 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($6,698,675). 62 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 91
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $65M
What The Childrens Museum does
Mission
Boston children's museum engages children and families in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. Boston children's museum is a welcoming, imaginative, child-centered learning environment that supports diverse families in nurturing their children's creativity and curiosity. We promote the healthy development of all children so that they will fulfill their potential and contribute to our collective wellbeing and future prosperity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Visitor experiencethe goal of visitor experience is to provide high quality experiences for our large audience of diverse visitors, whether they come in as school or community groups, or families. We seek to address the learning needs and interests of children birth to ten years old, as well as their accompanying adults who comprise 50% of the audience. To do this, we develop staff talent in delivering excellent customer service, public programs, and engaging interaction with visitors to help them maximize the learning impact and delight in discovery. Visitor experience works to create an inclusive environment that welcomes all.
$3,707,414 spent$4,291,741 earned by the program39% of program spendingEducation programsthe goal of education programs is to develop and implement interactive experiences that enhance the museum's exhibits for children and adults in the areas of stem and steam, visual and performing arts, health and wellness, cultures, early childhood development and learning, and community engagement. Education programs include self-guided and structured school programs, school readiness programs in partnership with community agencies, designated programs for children and families with special needs, science discovery programs, art studio workshops, performing arts demonstrations and workshops, and live theater expressly geared to young visitors.
$3,475,158 spent$47,028 earned by the program36% of program spendingExhibitionsthe goal of exhibitions is to develop, design and produce innovatively awesome experiences that engage children and adults in meaningful activities that inspire creativity, curiosity, experimentation, problem solving, and collaboration. Exhibits are powerful tools for play and learning, and for opening the imagination to new worlds and ideas. With a great depth and breadth of staff expertise in the arts, stem/steam, health and wellness, cultures and early childhood education, the museum creates exhibits that may appear deceptively simple but are founded in the theory and practice of how children and families learn best.
$2,011,784 spent21% of program spendingMemberships
$330,186 spent$1,149,227 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,524,542.
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 2024 to 2025, from $65M to $76M (+17%).
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 6% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 7% · 2021 23% · 2022 30% · 2023 8% · 2024 4% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
64% of THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% 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.
Chief executive
Carole Charnow
President/CEO
Board chair
David Healy
Trustee, chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 41 funders, grant income rose $478k → $1.4M.
16 of 91 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 CHILDRENS MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 91 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 CHILDRENS MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
29% 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 CHILDRENS MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 19% · 2019 17% · 2020 26% · 2021 38% · 2022 34% · 2023 14% — 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
36% of THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
55% of THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 CHILDRENS MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.7M on record — $1.9M federal, $839k state.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.0M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$420k
- National Science Foundation$343k
- Department of the Interior$67k
- National Endowment for the Arts$15k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$839k
- (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$13
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 CHILDRENS MUSEUM
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.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM: 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 CHILDRENS MUSEUM?
- THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM (Massachusetts) receives grants from 91 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,503,881 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($6,698,675). 62 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 91 organizations giving $21,503,881 in grants to THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM, 62 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,698,675 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CHILDRENS MUSEUM 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 Childrens Museum →
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 91 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