Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB
THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,663,254 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($3,301,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $7.7M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What The Citizen Science Lab does
Mission
Creating science pipelines for diverse and marginalized communities through life changing hands-on stem experiences.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The abe program is a 4-week intensive training that provides middle and biotechnology concepts to your classroom, hands-on, instructional biotechnology curriculum, and personalized mentoring so that teachers can prepare students for stem careers which bolster the country's stem-related economies. Teachers will be provided with an "abe classroom kit" filled with lab-grade equipment and supplies, as well as ongoing technical support from The Citizen Science Lab. All training, materials, and support are provided at no charge.
$338,474 spent$60,823 earned by the program40% of program spendingSeaperch is an innovative underwater robotics program that equips students with the resources they need to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle (rov) in an in-school or out-of-school setting. Students build the rov from a kit comprised of low-cost, easily accessible parts, following a curriculum that teaches basic engineering and science concepts with a marine engineering theme.the seaperch program provides students with the opportunity to learn about robotics, engineering, science, and mathematics (stem) while building an underwater rov as part of a science and engineering technology curriculum. Throughout the project, students will learn engineering concepts, problem-solving, teamwork, and technical applications.
$131,193 spent16% of program spendingSummer camps - we offer fun, hands-on camps for grades 4 through 12. With a full range of science and engineering adventures, including robotics, outer space, zoology, microbiology, dna, and drones. There's sure to be something that excites and inspires the budding scientist in your home.
$110,423 spent13% of program spendingThe drone academy is a program designed to teach youth in grades 9-12 flying lessons to safely fly their own drones. For students that are 16 and older, we will take the time to organize study and testing sessions to prepare students to pass their 14 cfr 107.71 exam. In igem, students push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world such as turning agricultural waste into biofuels and working to cure alzheimer's disease. The igem competition is an annual world-wide synthetic biology competition with teams representing the united states, chile, kazakhstan, south korea, egypt, south africa, mexico, germany, and australia among others. These multidisciplinary teams work throughout the spring, summer and fall to build genetically engineered systems for the competition. Students participating on the csl's teamwork with csl staff mentors to train and fine-tune their essential lab skills in order to successfully compete in the igem world championship jamboree, held annually in boston,massachusetts. The aquaponics & sustainability program supports public school classrooms by providing curricula, aquaponics systems, and a staff support during weekly…
$263,529 spent31% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $843,619.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2023 to 2024, from $1.4M to $2.4M (+70%).
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: 2021 6% · 2022 3% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Lisa Elliot
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $184k → $2.2M.
6 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 CITIZEN SCIENCE 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
THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
25% 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 CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 41% · 2020 33% · 2021 37% · 2022 58% · 2023 46% — 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
43% of THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
86% of THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $425k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like THE CITIZEN SCIENCE 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
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 THE CITIZEN SCIENCE 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 THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB?
- THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,663,254 to it, the largest being RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION ($3,301,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $7,663,254 in grants to THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB?
- RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,301,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CITIZEN SCIENCE LAB 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.
Play a game about who funds Citizen Science Lab →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 26 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